Blythe, Jessica L., Claudet, Joachim, Gill, David, Ban, Natalie C., Epstein, Graham, Gurney, Georgina G., Jupiter, Stacy D., Mahajan, Shauna L., Mangubhai, Sangeeta, Turner, Rachel, Bennett, Nathan J., D’Agata, Stéphanie, Franks, Phil, Lau, Jacqueline, Ahmadia, Gabby, Andrachuk, Mark, Annasawmy, Pavanee, Brun, Victor, Darling, Emily S., Di Franco, Antonio, Evans, Louisa, Lazzari, Natali, Naggea, Josheena, Relano, Veronica, Pertuz, Maria C., Villasante, Sebastian, and Zafra-Calvo, Noelia (2026) The Ocean Equity Index. Nature, 650. pp. 123-128.

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Abstract

The ocean is essential for humanity. Yet, inequity in ocean-based activities is widespread and accelerating. Addressing this requires governance approaches that can systematically measure equity and track progress9. Here we present the Ocean Equity Index (OEI)—a framework for assessing and improving equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies. We apply the index, which scores twelve criteria, to case studies at local, national and global scales. We show that the OEI can generate structured data to support evidence-based decision-making across ocean sectors and scales. As a theoretically robust and widely applicable tool, the OEI can guide the design of more equitable ocean initiatives, projects or policies, ensuring better outcomes for coastal people and marine ecosystems.

Item ID:	90837
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1476-4687
Copyright Information:	Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Date Deposited:	14 Apr 2026 01:24
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440699 Human geography not elsewhere classified @ 50% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4404 Development studies > 440405 Poverty, inclusivity and wellbeing @ 50%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180299 Coastal and estuarine systems and management not elsewhere classified @ 30% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180599 Marine systems and management not elsewhere classified @ 30% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1902 Environmental policy, legislation and standards > 190209 Sustainability indicators @ 40%
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