THINKING beyond the canopy

Landscape Game: A model to understand the dynamics of land competition, policy measures

and sustainability of a landscape[Herry Purnomo, Rika Harini Irawati]

[MODSIM, December 2011]

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Managing landscape involves various actors and land covers

Need better understanding of

• how each actor rationally behaves

• and how they react to rules and regulations set by policy makers

Trade-offs frequently occur Landscape Game is a tool for

understanding this complexity

Background

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Providing lessons on what can happen to landscape and to players’ income when the players apply various strategies.

It includes how ‘Nash Equilibrium’ is approached, in which all players apply optimal strategy.

Nash Equilibrium: solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players and no player has anything to gain by changing his / her own strategy unilaterally

Aims

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The Game Theory

The game’s realism may take one of several forms (Chomitz, 2007):

(a)Explicit reality, where game presents the actors’ real situation and their resources

(b)Implicit reality, where game represents a simplified version of actors and their resources

(c)Virtual world, where game is based on an issue that is not necessarily related to a specific actor or resource.

Romp (1997); Individualism, Rationality, Interdependency

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The Landscape Game Non-computerized game Based on issues of competing land use, maximizing benefits for each

set of actors, and sustainability of forest landscape. Comprises players, a set of possible strategies in forest landscape,

and pay-offs. Expected to be played by local communities, policy makers, students

and academics.

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Inspirations

Monopoly SimCity American Farmers Snakes and Ladders Fish Game

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Game Development

Players- Ideally six or more people (4 players (may play in collaboration e.g. 2 vs. 2), 1 banker, 1 government and adviser(s)) OR - at least three people (2 players and 1 banker/government)

Spatial setting and payoffs- Three types of area: forest core, forest edge and mosaic lands (Chomitz, 2007)- Spatial concepts include land competition, cellular automata, forest cover, settlements, rivers, roads

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Spatial Setting

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Landscape ConceptType of

areaFeatures Poverty and

development challenge

Environmental challenge

Governance challenge

Mosaic-land High land value, many inhabitants, small fraction of forest

Managing landscapes for production and environmental services, preventing extinctions of threatened species, fostering carbon sequestration

Enforcing property rights over land, trees, and environmental services

Forest edge Agricultural expansion, rapidly increasing land values, conflicts over forest use

Fostering more intensive rural development and access to off-farm employment

Avoiding irreversible degradation, mitigating CO2 emissions, avoiding forest fragmentation

Restraining resource grabs by large actors, averting races for property rights by smallholders, equitably adjudicating land claims

Forest core Mostly forest, contains minority of forest inhabitants but many indigenous people

Providing services for dispersed populations

Maintaining large-scale environmental processes

Protecting indigenous people’s rights, averting disorderly frontier expansion

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Investments Players can invest in

plantations, ecotourism, timber logging, carbon sequestration, mining and other industries to maximize their benefits on a shared landscape, dynamically ruled by a policy maker.

The policy maker can exercise different policies and rules to sustain the landscape.

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Pay-offsType of area

Possible investment Cost (Þ) Return (Þ) Hypothec (Þ)

Return/Investment time

Note

Forest core/ Forest edge

Ecotourism

10 2 5

Pass the area

Ecotourism in HCVF 20 3 10 Pass the area HCVF areas

Logging concession 13 50 6

One cycle Non HCVF area; Need re-investment after 1 cycle

Carbon for avoiding deforestation 2 3 1

One cycle

Mosaic-land

Acacia 22 40 11

One cycle Need re-investment after 1 cycle

Oil palm plantation 21 59 10

One cycle Need re-investment after 1 cycle

Bio-fuel 6 8 3 One cycle

Community based agro-forestry (sengon)

30 74 15

One cycle Need re-investment) after 1 cycle

Carbon for re-forestation 6 6 3

One cycle

Specific areas

Sustainability fund - Take a card

- The fund cards display how much points you receive

Fire

25 -

- If there are five patches of fast wood plantation and oil palm (together).

Landslide

15 -

- If there are five patches of logging concession and coal mining (together)

Risk - Take a card

- The risk cards display what risk/threat you will get

Coal mining 50 75 20 One cycle Reinvest after two cycle

Drinking Water 50 5 30

- Get Þ5 for every other players investment

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How to play (1) Recommended play time is

one hour. The banker distributes initial

funds to each player - 100 points; the government has a limited fund (200 points).

Initially the players are located randomly.

When a player arrives in a certain patch, various investments can be made.

Certain patches are dedicated to mining, drinking water investments, ‘fire’, ‘landslide’ and ‘sustainability fund’.

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How to play (2)

The player pays investment costs to the banker.

The government can create incentive and disincentive policies during the game (Nash Equilibrium).

Players can persuade the government.

The players can borrow money (the banker determines the conditions).

Players get returns from the banks after one or two cycles (according to the investment).

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At the end of the game The players count their

cash and total assets. The government assesses

the landscape; if the landscape is getting better, good player(s) can get an award from the government.

The player who collected the most money (including cash, assets and award) will win the game.

The banker counts all players’ money to find out the players’ productivity and the gap between the ‘richest’ and ‘poorest’.

All players, banker, and government discuss what lesson can be learned from the game.

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Results 1st Game by forestry students

Investments, cash and loans

Player A Player B Player C

Landscape Value Landscape Value Landscape Value

Assets Teak 50 Ecotourism (2) 14 Carbon (2) 10

Oil palm 16 Logging (2) 14 Bio fuel 5

Carbon (2) 10 Albazia 25 Acacia 17

Logging 7 Oil palm 16 Teak 50

Ecotourism 7 Water 40

Acacia 17

Cash 32 50 118

Total 139 129 240

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Results (2) 2nd Game played by forestry students (different players)

Investments, cash and loans

Player A Player B Player CLandscape Value Landscape Value Landscape Value

Assets Water 45 Acacia 17 Ecotourism non HCVF (3)

23

Carbon 11 Ecotourism 7 Carbon (3) 21Ecotourism non HCVF (2)

18 Carbon 5 Oil palm 75

Logging 57 Teak 50 Logging 57

Ecotourism HCVF

18.

Cash 22 50 6

Loans 50 0 0Total 121 129 182

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Results (3) 3rd game played by RECOFT-University of Wageningen training on

GovernanceInvestments, cash and loans

Player A Player B Player C Player DLandscape Value Landscape Value Landscape Value Landscape Value

Assets Albizia 7 Albizia 25 Biofuel (2) 10 Teak (2) 100

Water 40 Logging 14 Carbon (5) 25 Ecotourism (4)

28

Ecotourism 15 Carbon 10 Ecotourism HCVF (2)

14 Coal mining 30

Carbon 5 Bio fuel 10 Forest Logging

7

Ecotourism 21

Cash 223 223 99 237Penalty 110 110 110 220Total 198 193 75 175

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Discussions All players imagined and

connected the game’s spatial landscape, social actors and rules to reality.

Background and experiences of players influenced the way they managed ‘the landscape’.

Play It Safe vs Risk Taker "If we were all better people, the

world would be a better place"  Policy implements the principles

of good governance participatory, accountability, transparency and effectiveness to sustain the landscape.

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Impacts of Playing the Game

Best strategy to win Understanding reciprocal strategies of the

“opponents” Sense of integration between development

and conservation activities Effective policy for managing a landscape

(anticipate and develop new policies)

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Conclusions

The landscape game is a virtual reality, where players can experience development, conservation and policy implementation in a landscape.

The game can stimulate conceptual thinking of landscape management.

The game is able to represent the common landscape and its management.

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CIFOR advances human well-being, environmental conservation, and equity by conducting research to inform policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries.

www.cifor.orgwww.cifor.org