PHOTO(S): © Marco Carè/Marine Photobank
OHI+ assessments are independently-led by groups external to the OHI team. Conducting an OHI assessment is an iterative process that can be divided into four phases.
1) Learn about the Ocean Health Index and whether it is the right tool for the context
2) Plan the assessment by building a team and developing a timeline
3) Conduct the assessment by tailoring the OHI framework and calculating scores using the OHI Toolbox
4) Inform policy and future assessments by sharing both scores and what was learned during the process. Assessments are most useful when they are repeated through time to understand changes in ocean health and integrated into continuous decision-making processes for adaptive management.
Download OHI+ FactsheetOHI Onboarding is a reference guide to help you begin your independent OHI assessment (OHI+). It provides links to open data science and OHI Toolbox training resources for each phase of an OHI+ assessments.
The Ocean Health Index is a comprehensive assessment tool that evaluates a suite of goals that deliver benefits to humans. It can be tailored to identify and capture important factors in different contexts. Learn whether the OHI is the right assessment tool for your area or learn from previous assessments to identify opportunities in subsequent assessments.
LearnPlanning an OHI+ assessment requires identifying the needs and spatial area of the assessment, establishing objectives and a timeline of activities, determining necessary resources (human and financial), and aligning the assessment process with existing efforts and initiatives. Further, it is important to identify and include collaborators, including key stakeholders or decision-makers.
PlanConducting an assessment requires tailoring the OHI framework to the local context and using the Toolbox software to calculate scores based on this framework. This requires conceptually identifying important characteristics and priorities in the area, and gathering existing information and developing models to represent the framework. An emphasis is on transparency and reproducible science.
OHI Toobox Training is a hands-on training book introducing you to the OHI Toolbox and how to use it to calculate OHI scores, and provide guidance as your team prepares to use the Toolbox. It is built off open data science tools and practices. The training is accompanied by its predecessor, the OHI Manual, which is a guide for the Conduct phase of the OHI process, including the Toolbox. It is not written as a hands-on training, but is the most comprehensive handbook of information to guide OHI assessments. The manual is not updated as frequently as the Toolbox Training.
OHI Toolbox TrainingAnother potential resource (that may have more details than anyone wants) is the reference guide we use to conduct our OHI global assessment.
The scores produced from the assessment process, as well as what was learned through the process itself, should be shared. Along with final scores and methods, it is important to transparently describe successes and challenges of the process (including information and knowledge gaps). These can help to prioritize policy decisions and can also make future assessments more efficient.
Inform