4.6.7 Forms of equity and justice 

Governance needs to go beyond over-simplistic, quantitative indicators, such as counting how many trees have been planted and where. It needs to acknowledge the rights, values, visions, knowledge and needs of local communities in policies: recognitional equity. It also needs to ensure an inclusive and participatory decision making process: procedural equity (Bennett, 2022). Earth system, biodiversity and wellbeing outcomes (as well as potential harms) should be balanced: distributional equity. The interests of disadvantaged or marginalised groups need to be safeguarded, including nonhuman species and ecosystems: environmental equity. Leadership from, and participation with, local communities should be fostered and improved to allow local engagement in management activities: management equity. Emphasis should also be placed on qualitative factors such as equity and justice of protected areas: contextual equity (Pickering et al., 2022). Failing to address any of these dimensions may result in reproducing historical injustices and simply ‘kick the tipping point down the road’.

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