Twelve principles for successful governance of community-based coastal marine restoration

Global agreements, such as the Global Biodiversity Framework, call for urgent, large-scale action to halt biodiversity loss through a whole-of-society approach. Community-based restoration can play a crucial role in achieving this goal, yet there remains limited understanding of what makes these projects effective and sustainable. To address this, we conducted a systematic review of 204 peer-reviewed papers published from 1997 to 2024 on the governance of community-based coastal and marine conservation and restoration. From this review, we identified 12 key principles that we grouped into three broad foundational categories: sustainable social capital (success depends on collaboration, shared leadership, local relevance, and trust between communities and institutions); sustainable social justice and equity (conservation cannot succeed without fairness and recognition of Traditional Custodian peoples' rights that ensure cultural inclusion and promotes gender equity); and long-term and interdisciplinary science (enduring research and monitoring that connect ecological and human well-being outcomes are needed). Together, these foundations point to a way forward that replaces top-down management with stewardship grounded in shared responsibility and cultural integrity. When community is integral to governance of coastal marine spaces, conservation can move beyond protection alone to become a catalyst for ecological restoration, social reconciliation, and socioecological resilience.