Let's say an energy company is developing an offshore wind farm near a small First Nations fishing village. How can this company ensure that Indigenous rights are respected?
A flexible new tool called the Ocean Equity Index could help. Developed by an international team of researchers, the tool is designed to assess the extent to which ocean projects and policies recognize relevant stakeholders, include them in decision-making and otherwise treat them fairly.
In essence, the Ocean Equity Index is a scorecard that anyone can use to rate an ocean initiative — big or small, local or global — on ocean equity goals.
"Around the world, coastal communities are experiencing unprecedented environmental, economic and social change. And too often, those who are already marginalized bear the heaviest burdens — from pollution to lost livelihoods. But when the rights, voices and well-being of marginalized groups are genuinely prioritized in decision‑making, we see more equitable outcomes for these communities," says David Gill, assistant professor in marine science and conservation at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, and a collaborator on the new tool.
"The Ocean Equity Index offers a practical, evidence‑based way to help decision-makers to better ensure their efforts truly support the coastal communities they aim to serve," Gill says.
Three years in the making, the Ocean Equity Index is the brainchild of the Blue Justice Working Group , supported by France's Foundation for Research on Biodiversity to develop feasible solutions to biodiversity loss and climate change. The team published its work in Nature on Jan. 28.
Rooted in research on environmental justice, conservation and ecosystems services, the tool incorporates standardized questions to assess matters of equity — such as human rights, accountability, and potential harms and benefits — through an ocean lens.
"The Ocean Equity Index is based on 12 criteria that define equity in a robust way, but it's short enough that each one of those criteria is scored between zero and three, for a total of 36 points," explains first author Jessica Blythe, an associate professor in the Environmental Sustainability Research Center at Brock University in Canada. "It's a qualitative approach that is trying to strike a balance between rigor and usability. You don't need training to use it, and you can download it for free as an Excel spreadsheet and use it offline."
The tool can be used for a variety of purposes — from policymaking to commercial project development to fundraising — at different scales and stages.
For example, Indigenous peoples and local communities can tailor and use the Ocean Equity Index to assess the equity of projects that affect them and hold implementers to account, if necessary. Foundations, meanwhile, could apply the index to screen funding applications. Governments could also use the tool to report on commitments to ocean equity.
The Ocean Equity Index arrives at a time when multiple countries are striving to reverse biodiversity loss through a variety of legal and voluntary methods. For example, the United Nations just enacted the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction , a treaty aimed at ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the high seas — ocean waters beyond 200 miles of national coastlines.
"In this context, individual nations who have signed on to global agreements, including the high seas treaty, could use the Ocean Equity Index to track progress," Blythe says.
Based on several pilot projects, the Blue Justice Working Group has learned that private enterprises have also found the tool useful in understanding ocean equity and incorporating equity goals into business plans.
"This is anecdotal, but when we've worked with these groups, they've said that using the tool has really helped them understand what equity means and how they can actually take action. That kind of feedback has been really encouraging."
You can learn more and download the tool at OceanEquityIndex.org .
