Pick up a pen and draw a small circle. Then draw another circle round it, and then another. Carry on till you have at least eight circles. Now draw a tiny seahorse in the centre of the smallest circle. What you have drawn is a beautifully simple concept that takes the seahorse – an enchanting and vulnerable creature of which there are dozens of different species – as a starting point for the highly complex interconnectivity of animals, people and policy.
Dr Amanda Vincent, a leading marine biologist and conservation activist, calls this concept ‘the onion world’. “The innermost ring represents the quirky seahorse and its survival, the next ring is its habitat and environment in the shallow seas around the world’s coasts. To ensure the safety and sustainability of that environment, you need to pay attention to the needs of people who depend on the ocean; they constitute the next ring. In turn, they can only make wise decisions if their families are well-cared for and their children are in school,” she explained.
“Then we need law and order, which is the responsibility of government. Indeed the various layers of government, and the rules and regulations they set, are critical circles in this concept. Finally you hit global policy and its growing influence on our conservation story. The outermost layer is essential human influences such as altruism or greed as the most powerful factors of all.”
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Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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