WildlifeNL

The Dutch Wildlife Comeback: Dynamic co-management of human-wildlife interactions in the Netherlands (WildlifeNL). With a consortium of academic and non-academic partners, WildlifeNL seeks to develop a critical transition in wildlife management, based on a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis society’s relationship with wildlife that combines insights from social science, political science, philosophy and ecology. We propose to test innovative ways of managing human-wildlife interactions by exploring models that focus on the pro-active co-management of the behaviors of both humans and non-human animals. This shift towards managing behaviors is facilitated by the expanding use of novel smart technologies in wildlife management. WildlifeNL will help co-develop technologies that can improve human-wildlife interactions, such as serious games and improved monitoring through sensor networks, critically examine the effectiveness of these methods and other policy instruments, as well as study the broader social, ethical and philosophical consequences of an increasing role of technology in human-nature relationships. Together with stakeholders, we will explore these issues in two model landscapes; the National Park Zuid-Kennemerland and the Grenspark Kempen-Broek.