The Ocean & Society Survey: A Global Tool for Understanding People–Ocean Connections and Mobilizing Ocean Action

Recent years have seen calls for improved ways of assessing and understanding ocean literacy across a range of contexts. This article presents collaborative advances toward these ends on a global scale, through the co-creation of the Ocean & Society Survey. This Survey—based on national surveys in Canada, Brazil, and the UK—and the collaboration of 20 core partners, aims to capture diverse people–ocean connections. The article outlines the Ocean & Society Survey’s objectives to: (a) strengthen people–ocean relationships by exploring how people understand, value, and/or engage with the ocean; (b) guide pathways of engagement by identifying behavioural motivations, barriers, and enablers; (c) generate insights to inform targeted, audience-specific ocean communications campaigns; (d) demonstrate the value of transdisciplinary partnerships; and (e) better understand what influences peoples’ interests and concerns about the ocean, alongside the willingness and capacity to take action and make informed decisions. The article presents the co-design process of the global tool. In particular, it outlines the analytical approach using thematic, dimensional, and metric indices to compile a question set that can be used to achieve the above objectives by comparing public ocean perceptions over time and across regions. It discusses processes of external review, piloting, and launch in the lead-up to the third UN Ocean Conference, and the projected trajectory until 2030.