Mapping actor diversity is essential for advancing global seagrass conservation
Abstract
Seagrass conservation is increasingly organised around global agendas for protection, restoration, climate mitigation, biodiversity recovery and nature-positive finance. The actor systems that determine whether these agendas succeed remain poorly described, if at all. We developed a heuristic actor-centred framework for seagrass social-ecological systems, combining a literature scan with expert-informed scoring of 22 actor profiles across nine attributes. Actor-relevant seagrass research was concentrated around governance, pressure and dependent actors, while intervention and finance actors were rarely foregrounded. More importantly, material leverage, literature visibility and accountability were misaligned. Several actors with high capacity to shape seagrass outcomes, including fisheries managers, donors, government agencies, and commercial fisheries actors, were less visible than their potential influence suggests. We identify recurrent authority-dependence, impact-visibility and finance-accountability asymmetries that reveal hidden leverage points for conservation. Seagrass conservation must move beyond generic stakeholder language towards actor mapping that links ecological recovery with authority, incentives, legitimacy, knowledge and accountability.
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BibTeX
@misc{jones2026mapping,
title = {{Mapping actor diversity is essential for advancing global seagrass conservation}},
author = {Benjamin Lawrence Hopper Jones and Lucy Coals and Salomão Bandeira and Nathan Bennett and Steven Canty and Maricela de la Torre-Castro and Gabriel Grimsditch and Nicholas Hoad and Johannes Krause and Karine Magalhães and Anouska Mendzil and Irene Olive and Rachel Seary and Lindsey Smart and Oliver Thomas and Melissa Ward and Noura Al-Mansoori and Victor Mwakha Alati and Nessrine Alzahlawi and Ross Boucek and Joseph Boyle and Lyle Boyle and Jessa Marie Caabay and Antonio Castro and Himansu Das and Akbar Digdo and Carl Gough and Richard Lilley and Len McKenzie and Lina Mtwana Nordlund and Jillian Ooi and Jennifer Rehage and Ana Sousa and Flo Taylor and Susantha Udagedara and Vedharajan Balaji and Sebastian Villasante and Sieglind Wallner-Hahn},
howpublished = {EcoEvoRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.32942/x2b704},
url = {https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/15844/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Mapping actor diversity is essential for advancing global seagrass conservation
AU - Benjamin Lawrence Hopper Jones
AU - Lucy Coals
AU - Salomão Bandeira
AU - Nathan Bennett
AU - Steven Canty
AU - Maricela de la Torre-Castro
AU - Gabriel Grimsditch
AU - Nicholas Hoad
AU - Johannes Krause
AU - Karine Magalhães
AU - Anouska Mendzil
AU - Irene Olive
AU - Rachel Seary
AU - Lindsey Smart
AU - Oliver Thomas
AU - Melissa Ward
AU - Noura Al-Mansoori
AU - Victor Mwakha Alati
AU - Nessrine Alzahlawi
AU - Ross Boucek
AU - Joseph Boyle
AU - Lyle Boyle
AU - Jessa Marie Caabay
AU - Antonio Castro
AU - Himansu Das
AU - Akbar Digdo
AU - Carl Gough
AU - Richard Lilley
AU - Len McKenzie
AU - Lina Mtwana Nordlund
AU - Jillian Ooi
AU - Jennifer Rehage
AU - Ana Sousa
AU - Flo Taylor
AU - Susantha Udagedara
AU - Vedharajan Balaji
AU - Sebastian Villasante
AU - Sieglind Wallner-Hahn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - EcoEvoRxiv
DO - 10.32942/x2b704
UR - https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/15844/
AB - Seagrass conservation is increasingly organised around global agendas for protection, restoration, climate mitigation, biodiversity recovery and nature-positive finance. The actor systems that determine whether these agendas succeed remain poorly described, if at all. We developed a heuristic actor-centred framework for seagrass social-ecological systems, combining a literature scan with expert-informed scoring of 22 actor profiles across nine attributes. Actor-relevant seagrass research was concentrated around governance, pressure and dependent actors, while intervention and finance actors were rarely foregrounded. More importantly, material leverage, literature visibility and accountability were misaligned. Several actors with high capacity to shape seagrass outcomes, including fisheries managers, donors, government agencies, and commercial fisheries actors, were less visible than their potential influence suggests. We identify recurrent authority-dependence, impact-visibility and finance-accountability asymmetries that reveal hidden leverage points for conservation. Seagrass conservation must move beyond generic stakeholder language towards actor mapping that links ecological recovery with authority, incentives, legitimacy, knowledge and accountability.
ER -