Sometimes referred to as “trash pandas,” raccoons may be charismatic, but they can also create problems. A young raccoon recently got on the bus in Berlin – without a ticket – and refused to get off! And why would he: this cute, furry animal, which is native to North America, has no natural enemies in Germany and has no need to fear humans in the city. It is not alone: raccoons feature alongside eighty-seven other plants and animals on the European Union’s “List of Invasive Alien Species of Union Concern” that are rapidly spreading across the continent.

“These species, which we refer to as ‘alien’ or ‘non-native’ species shouldn’t be confused with those that have established themselves here purely because of climate change. ‘Invasive’ means that they were accidentally or deliberately introduced beyond their native range and now have negative ecological or socio-economic impacts – this, at least, is one of the common definitions,” explains Jonathan Jeschke, professor of ecological novelty at Freie Universität Berlin and head of the Department of Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries. Together with Sophia Kimmig and Wolf-Christian Saul, he recently concluded the European projects “InvasiBES” and “AlienScenarios,” which received funding in Germany from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

How Will We Manage Invasive Species in the Future?

“We developed future scenarios centered on biological invasions – on both a global and a European scale – together with colleagues from Spain, France, Canada, Austria, Germany, and other countries,” says Jeschke. While their focus was on biological invasions, the researchers also looked into potential political, societal, and economic developments and how these could influence the spread of non-native species.

“Our scenarios revolved around two main axes – environmental consciousness and technological development – which provided us with four potential futures for Europe.” Their most optimistic vision is “Technological (Pseudo-)Panacea.” In this scenario, the European states cooperate intensively, making major technological strides and successfully applying these technologies to the monitoring and control of invasive species, with the human population enjoying a high standard of living in green “smart cities.”

The scenario “Lost (in) Europe” is much more dystopian: Here, the EU falls apart and populism is the order of the day. Commerce and industry have come to set the political agenda and, in the absence of coordinated measures, invasive species spin out of control.

Together with professional game developers, the researchers have used these scenarios to design an applied game for experts. Four species were selected for the games: the marbled crayfish, which has been invasive in Berlin’s lakes for several years now; the Asian hornet; common ragweed; and the raccoon. The latter is a prime example of the dilemma we face in managing invasive species. From the few raccoons that were released in Edersee, Hesse, in 1934 and those that escaped from a fur farm in Brandenburg in 1945, the population has since exploded to an estimated 1.5 million animals that have spread across Germany and spilled over into neighboring countries. This is hardly a surprise given that female raccoons typically have four cubs on average per year, and the only threats that raccoons face are motorized vehicles, infectious diseases, and hunters.

The raccoon is a predatory omnivore that scavenges dumpsters and pet feeding bowls, on top of happily gorging on amphibians and turtles. While it is not a protected species, the welfare of individual animals needs to be considered. To make things even more complicated, raccoons are especially brash and obnoxious roommates if you are unlucky enough to have one move into your attic. There are well over 1,000 raccoons in Berlin alone.

Designed to spark a productive discussion and serve as a decision support tool for experts, each player in the game takes the position of a specific interest group, such as proponents of animal welfare, an environmental agency, hunters, or homeowners. Anyone can propose measures for how to manage the alien species. These are put down on paper and discussed, with the measures being adopted if they achieve sufficient support.

Games Allow a Change in Perspective

The players then find out how things will look in ten, twenty, or thirty years using a map of Europe. “The goals of the management measures can vary, from simply containing the population to minimizing the invasive species’ impacts on biodiversity or humans without reducing population size,” explains Jeschke. An example of the latter would be “raccoon-proof” houses.

The ecologist goes on to say that a special appeal of the game is that it enables experts to change their perspective by slipping into the role of a representative from another interest group – helping them better understand the other stakeholder’s arguments. “This can result in better communication between stakeholders in real life,” says Jeschke.

The goal of the game’s second version, which is designed as a board game for the wider public, is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding invasive species and highlight that there are not always easy solutions to the problem. In the board game, the arguments of the different interest groups take the form of playing cards. The researchers want to present the board game at the SPIEL ESSEN international game fair in October.

Jeschke says that the problems we are facing all over the world are not only multifaceted and complicated, but interconnected. This also applies to biological invasions and climate change. “The game makes this complexity easier to grasp. You realize the impacts your own decisions have on the future, and that we’re not powerless – that we too can make a difference.”

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This article originally appeared in German in the Tagesspiegel newspaper supplement published by Freie Universität Berlin.