Dr. Claude Garcia

Professor of International Forest Governance

HAFL Hugo P. Cecchini Institute Operational Board member

My research explores how people make decisions in complex, changing environments—where ecology, social dynamics, and governance intersect. I’m particularly interested in the role of strategic interaction in shaping outcomes, and I use tools like participatory modelling and game design to support decision-making. If game theory is the fundamental science of strategic interactions, then strategy games are its applied component—powerful tools to surface assumptions, explore scenarios, and build shared understanding in real-world contexts.

Fostering the global forest transition through integrative landscape approaches

Catalyzing just transitions in the face of climate and ecological crises

Designing and applying strategy games as tools for real-world decision-making

Garcia, C. A., Savilaakso, S., Verburg, R. W., Stoudmann, N., Fernbach, P., Sloman, S. A., Peterson, G. D., Araújo, M. B., Bastin, J.-F., Blaser, J., Boutinot, L., Crowther, T. W., Dessard, H., Dray, A., Francisco, S., Ghazoul, J., Feintrenie, L., Hainzelin, E., Kleinschroth, F., … Waeber, P. O. (2022). Strategy games to improve environmental policymaking. In Nature Sustainability (Vol. 5, Issue 6). Nature Publishing Group. https://arbor.bfh.ch/handle/arbor/34223

Waeber, P. O., Melnykovych, M., Riegel, E., Chongong, L. V., Lloren, R., Raher, J., Reibert, T., Zaheen, M., Soshenskyi, O., & Garcia, C. (2023). Fostering Innovation, Transition, and the Reconstruction of Forestry: Critical Thinking and Transdisciplinarity in Forest Education with Strategy Games. In Forests (Vol. 14, Issue 8). MDPI. https://doi.org/10.24451/arbor.19797

Redpath, S. M., Keane, A., Andrén, H., Baynham-Herd, Z., Bunnefeld, N., Duthie, A. B., ... & Travers, H. (2018). Games as tools to address conservation conflicts. Trends in ecology & evolution, 33(6), 415-426.

Bastin, J. F., Finegold, Y., Garcia, C., Mollicone, D., Rezende, M., Routh, D., ... & Crowther, T. W. (2019). The global tree restoration potential. Science, 365(6448), 76-79.

Réjou-Méchain, M., Mortier, F., Bastin, J. F., Cornu, G., Barbier, N., Bayol, N., ... & Gourlet-Fleury, S. (2021). Unveiling African rainforest composition and vulnerability to global change. Nature, 593(7857), 90-94.

Garcia, C. A., Savilaakso, S., Verburg, R. W., Gutierrez, V., Wilson, S. J., Krug, C. B., ... & Waeber, P. O. (2020). The global forest transition as a human affair. One Earth, 2(5), 417-428.

Waeber, P. O., Stoudmann, N., Langston, J. D., Ghazoul, J., Wilmé, L., Sayer, J., ... & Garcia, C. A. (2021). Choices we make in times of crisis. Sustainability, 13(6), 3578.

Ponta, N., Cornioley, T., Waeber, P. O., Dray, A., Van Vliet, N., Mesa, M. P. Q., & Garcia, C. A. (2021). Drivers of transgression: What pushes people to enter protected areas. Biological Conservation, 257, 109121.

Garcia, C. A., Vendé, J., Konerira, N., Kalla, J., Nay, M., Dray, A., ... & Vaast, P. (2020). Coffee, farmers, and trees—shifting rights accelerates changing landscapes. Forests, 11(4), 480.

HAFL Hugo P. Cecchini Institute Operational Board member

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