Addressing equity and justice issues has become a central concern of ocean policy and sustainability efforts. Yet, many ocean-focused governmental, non-governmental and funding organizations often lack the foundational knowledge, mandate, capacity, and diversity to be able to adequately account for and address equity and justice issues.
In a new opinion editorial, I provide six recommendations for how marine conservation and development organizations can establish a strong internal foundation for mainstreaming equity and justice issues in external marine policies, practices, programs and portfolios. These recommendations include the following:
- Develop awareness of past equity and justice issues in marine policy spheres where the organization works.
- Explore how equity and justice are defined and can be operationalized in marine policy and practice (see Figure 1).
- Mainstream equity and justice in organizational policies, practices, programs, and portfolios.
- Increase organizational human dimensions capacity and ability to think socially.
- Support marine social science research and engage with evidence regarding the human dimensions.
- Commit to internal organizational equity, diversity and inclusion as a foundation for external equity and justice work.
Creating strong organizational foundations is an important starting place and enabler for advancing equity and justice in the ocean. Read the editorial here.

Reference: Bennett, N.J. (2022). Mainstreaming Equity and Justice in the Ocean. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.873572/full