The United Nations Ocean Conference declaration scored 44% on the first standardised measure of ocean equity.
That’s the lowest score of any case the researchers tested.
The study, published this week in Nature, introduces the Ocean Equity Index, a free tool for measuring fairness in ocean governance. Twelve criteria. Three categories: recognition, participation, and distribution. Who gets acknowledged? Who gets a seat at the table? Who benefits, and who bears the costs?
The researchers tested the index on six case studies.
A traditional reef management system in French Polynesia, led by local communities using customary rules, scored 78%. A Danish wind company’s environmental assessment process also scored 78%. A fish-drying project in Tanzania scored lower on transparency because project documents were only available in English, not Swahili.
The UN Ocean Conference declaration, the flagship global commitment to equitable ocean governance, scored 44%.
Context matters. Consensus documents negotiated among 193 countries are not implementation plans. A lower score may reflect the difficulty of multilateral agreement rather than deliberate exclusion. The UN was not contacted for comment on the researchers’ assessment.
But the contrast is hard to ignore. The communities scored higher than the institution that claims to represent them.
Why this matters
The High Seas Treaty promises equitable benefit-sharing. The global biodiversity agreement includes equity commitments. Every major ocean declaration talks about fairness and inclusion.
Until now, there was no standardised way to check if anyone was keeping those promises.
Now there is.
The Ocean Equity Index is one framework, developed by one research team, tested on six cases. Other assessors might reach different conclusions. But it’s a start. It’s more than we had before.
