How Can Virtual Reality Help to Expose Conservation Issues?

Stimulating, unusual and immersive. Virtual reality is an exciting technological development, bringing a new, extraordinary twist to a whole range of areas like gaming, film and even education. It’s an adaptable format that has no bounds. The latest challenge for virtual reality? To raise awareness of important conservation issues. Read on to find out how it can help.

Virtual reality – an introduction

Virtual reality (VR) is a concept, rather than a specific piece of equipment. It’s about replicating an environment and surrounding the user. The idea is to make the user feel completely immersed. With user interaction and sensory experiences, virtual reality can create a fantasy world, recreate a past time, or put you in a completely different real-life setting. The most common product for achieving this experience is a VR headset. It immerses your vision and hearing to put you in a separate world.

VR conservation

Unfortunately, VR cannot undo the effects of human activity on the world. What it can do, however, is raise awareness in spectacular fashion. The engaging nature of VR transports you to incredible locations around the world. Using this for storytelling makes it more immediate, more relevant and intensifies the impact.

Valen’s reef

Conservation International is a non-profit organisation that aims to protect nature. In July 2016, they released their own VR production, Valen’s Reef. The 360-degree video, takes viewers to Indonesia’s Raja Ampat islands. Ronald Mambrasar, a fisherman, guides his son through the history of the region and explains the Bird’s Head Seascape as they sail, swim and dive.

The incredible surroundings are brought to life by the VR format. Having someone explain the importance of conservation within this amazing experience really makes it hit home. There are a growing number of examples too. David Attenborough and the Natural History Museum have combined forces to produce a stunning VR film of the Great Barrier Reef.

Water conservation

A big part of conservation, especially in fishing areas, is the conservation of water. With such a scarcity of clean water around the world, it’s vital for scientists to fully understand the water we do have. Evapotranspiration is the combination of plant transpiration and evaporation of water from the Earth’s land and oceans to the atmosphere. Explore the ways in which it can be measured, the role of new technology, and why it’s so important in ‘New Technologies for Large-Scale Evapotranspiration Measurements’.