Games as Tools to Address Conservation Conflicts

Abstract

Conservation conflicts represent complex multilayered problems that are challenging to study. We explore the utility of theoretical, experimental, and constructivist approaches to games to help to understand and manage these challenges. We show how these approaches can help to develop theory, understand patterns in conflict, and highlight potentially effective management solutions. The choice of approach should be guided by the research question and by whether the focus is on testing hypotheses, predicting behaviour, or engaging stakeholders. Games provide an exciting opportunity to help to unravel the complexity in conflicts, while researchers need an awareness of the limitations and ethical constraints involved. Given the opportunities, this field will benefit from greater investment and development.

Collaborative Governance and Conflict Management: Lessons Learned and Good Practices from a Case Study in the Amazon Basin

“…A rich academic literature has explored the foundations, causes, and impacts of conservation conflicts given their potentiality to undermine conservation goals and erode social and political will to support protected areas and surrounding buffer zones (Bragagnolo et al 2017;Daniels and Walker 2001;Madden and McQuinn 2014;Soliku and Schraml n.d;Redpath et al 2013). Indeed, this literature has developed important guidance on good practices in conservation conflict management (Davies, Bryce, and Redpath 2013;Lecuyer et al 2018;Redpath, Bhatia, and Young 2015;Redpath, Bhatia, and Young 2015;Redpath et al 2018).…”

From Analyses to Implementation and Innovation

“…Some are suggesting interactive evolutionary computation, maybe coupled to artificial intelligence (and even to the use of LSD). Also waiting to be used in more creative and innovative ways are massive data, Google search engines and their ability to access all the information available on the Internet, Google Earth, voice recognition (that kids take for granted when asking their cell phones questions), parallel cloud computing, and even three-dimensional virtual reality environments that stakeholders can step into and interact with [50,51]. (We can dream!…”

A Framework for Assessing Impacts of Wild Meat Hunting Practices in the Tropics

“…Experimental games and agent-based models (ABMs) are two promising tools for engaging with 'real' behaviour. Games offer an opportunity to test the rationality of human actors in realistic scenarios (Redpath et al 2018), whilst ABMs have the flexibility to explore the implications of differences in individual strategies (DeAngelis and Grimm 2014).…”