Preferences for fair decision-making principles in marine conservation
Hampton-Smith, Melissa (James Cook University)
Gurney, Georgina G. (University of Tasmania. Institute of Marine Science)
Ruano-Chamorro, Cristina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Lau, Jacqueline (James Cook University. Centre of Sustainable Fisheries and Tropical Aquaculture)
Cinner, Joshua E. (University of Sydney)

Data:	2026
Resum:	The global expansion of area-based conservation has heightened the urgency of attention to equity in environmental governance. Procedural equity-fair decision-making-is central to achieving just and effective conservation outcomes yet remains underexplored in empirical research. This study addresses a critical gap by examining stakeholder and rightsholder (hereafter local actor) preferences for eight procedural equity principles within the context of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Using factorial survey experiments and 1739 vignette ratings from 435 coastal residents we find that local actors favour a holistic approach to procedural equity, with particular emphasis on trustworthiness, transparency, interpersonal treatment, and voice. While participation has long dominated the discourse on equitable conservation decision-making, our results reveal that alone it does not satisfy local actors' fairness preferences. Instead, we suggest a shift towards more relational approaches that focus on the quality of the relationship between decision-makers and local actors. This study provides practical recommendations for environmental governance and underscores the need to center local actor-defined fairness to achieve socially just and ecologically sound conservation outcomes.
Ajuts:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación JDC2024-053391-I Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2024-001506-M
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Conservation ; Fairness ; Governance ; Marine ; Procedural equity ; Procedural justice
Publicat a:	Biological conservation, Vol. 319 (July 2026) , art. 111869, ISSN 0006-3207

DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111869

11 p, 1.4 MB

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