Game Theory on the Ground: The Effect of Increased Patrols on Deterring Poachers

Citation:

Lily Xu, Andrew Perrault, Andrew Plumptre, Margaret Driciru, Fred Wanyama, Aggrey Rwetsiba, and Milind Tambe. 7/20/2020. “Game Theory on the Ground: The Effect of Increased Patrols on Deterring Poachers.” Harvard CRCS Workshop on AI for Social Good. Publisher's Version
poaching_deterrence.pdf546 KB

Abstract:

Applications of artificial intelligence for wildlife protection have focused on learning models of poacher behavior based on historical patterns. However, poachers' behaviors are described not only by their historical preferences, but also their reaction to ranger patrols. Past work applying machine learning and game theory to combat poaching have hypothesized that ranger patrols deter poachers, but have been unable to find evidence to identify how or even if deterrence occurs. Here for the first time, we demonstrate a measurable deterrence effect on real-world poaching data. We show that increased patrols in one region deter poaching in the next timestep, but poachers then move to neighboring regions. Our findings offer guidance on how adversaries should be modeled in realistic game-theoretic settings.
See also: Conservation, PAWS, 2020
Last updated on 05/11/2022