Within conservation science and practice, community‐based conservation (CBC) includes policy and management interventions incorporating engagement or participation of local communities and resource users. Evidence across scales points to the importance of supporting local actors and management institutions for better social and ecological outcomes of CBC interventions. However, the institutional and governance processes underlying CBC outcomes remain poorly understood, specifically how institutions respond to opportunities and constraints posed by CBC. In response, this special issue of Conservation Science & Practice solicited contributions investigating adaptation and evolution of institutions and governance in CBC. In this paper, we introduce the special issue and its 13 contributions, representing cases from Africa, Asia, and the Americas across organizational scales and resource systems. We assess the state of knowledge of CBC, identify common themes and lessons learned, and suggest future priorities for research and practice.

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Wildlife impacts and changing climate pose compounding threats to human food security Highlights d KAZA households experience diverse factors constraining livelihoods d Marginal agriculture is further limited by recent changes in precipitation patterns d Crop depredation by wildlife is widespread and compounds food insecurity d Inclusive policies conserving wildlife and supporting people are needed

Community lands play a critical role in community well-being and conservation, but community lands can be at odds with statutory land systems. We present two case studies from the Kenya-Tanzania border that illuminates the risks of top-down approaches imposing misaligned privatized tenurial systems onto the community, and the potential of community-based organizations (CBO) to promote collaboration in a socially fractured landscape via communal titles. The case studies indicate that applying a private tenure system in a misaligned cultural setting can fracture cultural and ecological coexistence between communities and the land. CBOs can play a role in catalyzing collective action to resolve these issues. The full devolution of rights must be sensitive to communities’ culture, traditions, and history, while ensuring avenues for collective action.