Can digital gaming reset the devastation we’ve inflicted on the natural world? Gautam Shah believes so. He’s a game developer creating virtual experiences for people to protect the Earth and learn about real-life conservation stories. “It’s important for people to see conservation as accessible if we want them to get involved,” Shah says.
With his company Internet of Elephants, Shah creates interactive apps such as Wildeverse, an augmented reality mobile game. Users can explore a digital jungle and learn how to protect the animals that inhabit it. Shah and his team are based in Kenya, but their innovations have reached people across the world. Those who would otherwise never have the opportunity to encounter animals up close can now interact with them virtually. Every day, millions of people are engaging with mobile applications and games. By tapping into this market, Shah is bringing the wild into people’s lives, giving them the opportunity to reconnect with nature and advance conservation efforts.
Up Next in Season 1
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Tatiana Espinosa
Forest engineer Tatiana Espinosa leads the Arbio Peru project , a proposal for forest conservation in one of the most deforested regions in the country, which has earned her international recognition.
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Stefanie Brendl
Shark populations have declined by more than 90% due to overfishing and the demand for their fins. Stefanie Brendl fell in love with sharks, founding Shark Allies, a conservation organisation that aims to put an end to the shark fin trade.
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Pascal van Erp
Pascal van Erp and his team hunt down lost fishing nets that haunt our oceans, not only cleaning our seas but turning the wasted nets into materials that can be used to make clothes!
