Defining equity: Government and community notions of equity in marine conservation co‐management

Abstract Perceived inequities lie at the core of many conservation conflicts, yet empirical comparisons of how different stakeholders conceptualise equity remain rare. Despite its prominence in global policy frameworks, equity is context‐dependent and understood differently by different actors, making it difficult to define and operationalise. Using an empirical environmental justice lens, we compared the notions of distributional, procedural, and recognitional equity held by coastal residents and government actors in a co‐managed marine protected area in Indonesia. We drew on semi‐structured interviews with 26 coastal residents and three government officials and analysed the protected area's management plan. We identify three key findings. First, both groups shared similar distributional and procedural criteria in principle, but they carried different meanings in practice. Second, recognitional equity was relational and internally derived for residents but externally conferred and legalistic for government actors. Third, misaligned notions of equity generated perceived inequities that undermined local support for conservation. Our findings highlight the central role of recognition in shaping notions of equity and show that agreement in principle does not ensure alignment in practice. Crucially, these divergences influence how coastal residents relate to, engage with, and support marine conservation, with significant implications for conservation legitimacy, stewardship and socio‐ecological outcomes. To foster more equitable and sustainable conservation co‐management, governance approaches must centre local understandings of equity and legitimacy by aligning formal rules with community values, practices and lived relationships with marine environments. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.