Our Aqua Republica uses serious gaming to improve water resource management

In collaboration with UNEP-DHI Centre, we developed Aqua Republica – a serious game that promotes sustainable water resource management through knowledge sharing. Aqua Republica helps participants learn water management best practices – both in their region and around the world.

It combines scientific models with game mechanics to develop an online virtual world. Using our MIKE BASIN software as the backbone, the game uses real world data to generate a realistic basin environment.

In Asia, we ran the UNEP-DHI Eco Challenge in conjunction with the Serious Games Association Singapore and the Hong Kong Digital Game-based Learning Association. Teams from India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand competed against each other in the world of Aqua Republica. During the competition, participants gained a better understanding of the conflicts and trade-offs that exist in a water catchment. The game enabled them to recognise the:

• needs and perspectives of all the stakeholders in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)
• connectivity and importance of water resources
• value of ecosystems
• benefits of applying ecosystem-based approaches to IWRM

Aqua Republica is a flexible, interactive game. We can take different geographical locations, water data, scenarios and learning goals into account to create a game that meets your specific needs. Other customised versions of the game in development, include:

• a high school version with training materials, in conjunction with Cap-Net UNDP– an international network focused on sustainable water management capacity building as part of the United Nations Development Programme
• a version for stakeholders in South Africa’s Middle Olifants Catchment, in conjunction with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research