Ocean Health Index
The Ocean Health Index (OHI) is a marine assessment framework to comprehensively and quantitatively evaluate ocean health. It measures the conservation status of six habitats - mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, salt marshes, sea ice, and sub-tidal soft-bottom habitats - that are particularly important in supporting large numbers of marine species.
The OHI defines a healthy ocean as one that sustainably delivers a range of benefits to people now and in the future. The OHI measures progress towards a suite of key societal ‘goals’ representing the benefits and services people expect healthy oceans to provide. By analyzing these goals together and scoring them from 0-100, OHI assessments provide an integrated picture of the state of the ecosystem and can be communicated to a wide range of audiences.
Originally developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists (Halpern et al., 2012, Nature), global assessments have been repeated every year since 2012 (Halpern et al., 2015, PLOS One; Halpern et al. in review). Global assessments have been endorsed by the World Economic Forum, praised by the Prince of Wales, used as an indicator by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and are expected to be an indicator in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.
The OHI team is a unique academic-nonprofit partnership between the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and Conservation International that continues to push boundaries in collaborative management and scientific contexts.
The Ocean Health Index (OHI) is a marine assessment framework to comprehensively and quantitatively evaluate ocean health. It measures the conservation status of six habitats - mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, salt marshes, sea ice, and sub-tidal soft-bottom habitats - that are particularly important in supporting large numbers of marine species.
The OHI defines a healthy ocean as one that sustainably delivers a range of benefits to people now and in the future. The OHI measures progress towards a suite of key societal ‘goals’ representing the benefits and services people expect healthy oceans to provide. By analyzing these goals together and scoring them from 0-100, OHI assessments provide an integrated picture of the state of the ecosystem and can be communicated to a wide range of audiences.
Originally developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists (Halpern et al., 2012, Nature), global assessments have been repeated every year since 2012 (Halpern et al., 2015, PLOS One; Halpern et al. in review). Global assessments have been endorsed by the World Economic Forum, praised by the Prince of Wales, used as an indicator by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and are expected to be an indicator in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.
The OHI team is a unique academic-nonprofit partnership between the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and Conservation International that continues to push boundaries in collaborative management and scientific contexts.
SUBJECT Variables
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The overall performance score is an average of scores of the 10 performance goals.
- India's overall score on the OHI has been sliding steadily since 2013 and is currently 62.8 on a scale of 100. In the OHI 2023, India is ranked 195 amongst 220 countries.
- The score remains challenged due to its poor performance in the areas of Food provision, and Clean waters where no significant progress has been made since 2013.
Data Period: 2019
- Compared to its benchmarked peers within G20, India's overall OCI score in 2023 remains at the bottom of the table.
- When compared against the world average too, India's score has remained much lower. In 2023, India's overall OCI score was 62.8 against the world average of 73.5.
PERFORMANCE GOALS
The OHI measures progress towards a suite of key societal ‘goals’ representing the benefits and services people expect healthy oceans to provide. By analyzing these goals together, OHI assessments provide an integrated picture of the state of the ecosystem.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Get full access to the exciting content on The Mirrority by logging in
Support independent journalism
Even the very best of media houses in our country today are yielding to the pressure of click-bait journalism in order to survive. More than ever before, our country needs journalism that is independent, fair and non-pliant to the bureaucracy. Such journalism needs the support of like-minded readers like you to help us survive editorially and financially.
Whether you live in India or India lives inside you, help us continue to produce quality journalism with your contribution.
CONTRIBUTE