Assessing Inclusion of Social Equity Principles in 30x30 Coastal Conservation and Management Policies Using an Access-based Equity Framework

Coastal Indigenous peoples and local communities face issues of non-equitable distribution of coastal resources when conservation policies restrict entry to marine areas. Restrictions bar traditional community access to such spaces for economic, social, and cultural purposes. The Convention of Biological Diversity’s adoption of the Post-2020 Global Diversity Framework in December 2022 calls for a global initiative of conserving at least 30 percent land and sea areas by 2030. For coastal communities that rely on marine resources for their way of life, it is essential that future coastal conservation efforts balance ecological preservation with social equity needs. This paper seeks to address how well national governments are integrating social and equity values when designing coastal conservation policies by using access as a social equity proxy lens. The research resulted in 1) an access-based equity framework from a limited equitable marine conservation literature review and 2) an equity code book based on the developed equity framework, as potential policy analysis tools that can be used by researchers and policymakers to assess equity gaps in sets of national coastal conservation policies. The two tools were applied to example scenarios in Australia and India. The paper includes recommendations for policymakers, governmental coastal resource managers, and researchers on how to use the developed framework and codebook to assess equitable access for coastal IPLCs when designing and implementing coastal conservation policies.