Abstract
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.