Explicit benefit-sharing arrangements
To achieve equitable and fair ocean governance, the discourse around ocean stewardship, access and use of marine resources, needs to be re-defined. In particular, ocean stewardship needs to address social inequity (Actions 24, 27) (Allison 2001; Bennett 2019b). This approach can offer many opportunities that are supportive of current institutional processes (Action 2), adopt meaningful co-designed governance principles, and have great potential for transformative change (Coscieme et al. 2020; Díaz et al. 2019). For example, moving away from the practice of trading-off ecosystem services such as prioritising fish harvesting over environmental damage by fishing gear (Clark et. al 2016; Kaiser et al 2000) can help account for the unequal distribution of costs and benefits across society (Costanza et al. 1998; Daw et al. 2011). As noted in SDG1 (i.e. no poverty): growing social inequality is detrimental to economic growth and may undermine social cohesion and collective action to address governance problems. Thus, mainstreaming benefit-sharing mechanisms and access rights may strengthen stakeholder collaborations (Action 36) and foster the integration of different knowledge types (Actions 18, 19).
Build capacity for those unheard
Issues in ocean governance can challenge how we cooperate nationally, regionally, and internationally (Action 4) (Campbell and Hanich 2015; Costanza et al. 1998; Díaz et al. 2019). Understanding and achieving equity, alleviating poverty, and enhancing human resilience are required to foster cooperation. This can be done by designing and implementing context-relevant ocean governance policies that consider the marginalised, disenfranchised, and landlocked communities (Bennett 2019a; Coscieme et al. 2020). These communities often lack information, power and influence, a platform, and representation (Actions 29, 30) and are thus less proactive in addressing ocean governance issues (Actions 27, 31, 32, 33, 40). For example, conflict resolution practices can explicitly focus on ensuring representation of all interests, and work hard to provide inclusive practices, and thereby contributing to capacity building. Addressing social inequity will not only facilitate fair-sharing and cross-sectoral cooperation but also transform how humans relate to and interact with the ocean (Campbell and Hanich 2015).