CAN

Aarhus University Seal

When we manage nature, there are many – and often conflicting – opinions and needs to consider. In addition, nature, as well as people’s use of it, is constantly changing. This implies a need for dynamic, proactive and inclusive nature management. 

Centre for Adaptive Nature Management will develop and test new ways of nature management using an adaptive approach. This increases the chance of successfully obtaining sustainable solutions for the benefit of both nature and society.

Vision

Centre for Adaptive Nature Management will create sustainable solutions for managing nature, through collaborations between managers, citizens and researchers, which are continuously adapted to attain common goals and account for the state of the natural resources.

Objectives

The Centre for Adaptive Nature Management will

  • bring together researchers, citizens, organisations, businesses and authorities and develop customised models for how to ensure democratic management processes across sectors and authorities
  • develop tools for biological and socio-economic impact assessments of management initiatives
  • support actual management processes, test and gather experience in the practical application of adaptive management
  • disseminate experiences of adaptive management in practice through lectures, popular science articles and guidelines, as well as presenting of our results to the international research community.

We offer

The Centre for Adaptive Nature Management offers

  • knowledge-based nature management with an integrated natural science and social science approach
  • partnerships and cooperation with authorities, organisations, local associations, citizens, businesses and other research institutions in order to structure and implement decision-making processes in locally based projects
  • advice and facilitation as well as management and development of adaptive management processes and projects
  • supplementary training in adaptive nature management for administrators, biologists etc.
  • education/courses at university level (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) in adaptive nature management.    

In 2017, Aarhus University established the Centre for Adaptive Nature Management (CAN), managed by Aarhus University and based at Department of Bioscience, Kalø.

CAN has collaboration with external scientific partners, both national, DTU Aqua, and international, among others US Geological Survey. The centre has researchers and advisors with both social science and natural science expertise.

Contacts of the centre

Jesper Madsen

Professor and Head of Centre for Adaptive Nature Management