Mapping actor diversity is essential for advancing global seagrass conservation
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.
Authors
- Steven W. J. Canty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9927-7736)
- Gabriel Grimsditch
- Nicholas Hoad
- Lucy Coals (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9061-2233)
- Richard J. Lilley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1692-1555)
- Benjamin L. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6058-9692)
- Akbar Ario Digdo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3864-9502)
- Sebastián Villasante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6296-4479)
- Nessrine Alzahlawi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3687-6816)
- Salomão Bandeira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2889-4523)
- Susantha Udagedara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3681-1924)
- Lindsey S. Smart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1366-6528)
- Oliver Thomas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3443-2149)
- Carl Gough
- Sieglind Wallner‐Hahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0010-745X)
- Ross E. Boucek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8084-5892)
- Rachel Seary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7496-8792)
- Noura Al‐Mansoori
- Karine Matos Magalhães (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2162-5937)
- Jennifer Schöpf Rehage (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0009-6906)
- Irene Olivé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4865-923X)
- Johannes Krause (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9144-3920)
- Melissa A. Ward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6651-4715)
- Maricela de la Torre‐Castro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6990-6682)
- Ana Sousa
- Flo Taylor
- Lina Nordlund
- Jessa Marie Caabay
- Antonio Castro
- Anouska Mendzil
- Nathan Bennett
- Himansu Das
- Vedharajan Balaji
- Jillian Ooi
- Lyle Boyle
- Len McKenzie
- Joseph Boyle
- Victor Alati
Institutions
- Smithsonian Institution (US)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- The Nature Conservancy (US)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Eduardo Mondlane University (MZ)
- University of Groningen (NL)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Florida International University (US)
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES)
- United Nations Environment Programme (KE)
- University of Kent (GB)
- Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (AE)
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (IT)
- University of Malaya (MY)
- Swansea University (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Project Seagrass (GB)
- Blue Resources Trust (LK)
- Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KE)
- Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (US)
- Centro de Estudos Ambientais e Marinhos (PT)
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (US)
- University of Almería (ES)
- University of Aveiro (PT)
- Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (BR)
- James Cook University (AU)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2026-10-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.32942/x2b704
- Primary Topic
- Coastal and Marine Management
- Type
- preprint