Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (CMEC)

Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (CMEC) has been established with funds from Danish National Research Foundation, the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark. It is a long-term funded center of excellence that started 1st of January 2010. The center integrates terrestrial and marine research in a cross-disciplinary research program addressing fundamental questions on the origin, maintenance, conservation and future of life and biological diversity on Earth.

IFRO is responsible for the research theme named Socioeconomics and Biodiversity which is one out of ten research themes that make up CMEC.

The research theme Socioeconomics and Biodiversity aims to understand and quantify the relations between the human environment and the bio-physical environment of nature areas in order to provide a holistic framework for achieving sustainable outcomes. The research focus on planning approaches which facilitates decision making and management in consideration of the natural environmental as well as social, political, economic, and governance factors. The main research questions are:

• What are the impacts of forest and nature management on ecosystems and the provision of ecosystem services?
• What are the benefits and costs related to the state, impact and response with respect to natural resources and environmental services?
• How can we balance utilisation and conservation of natural resources and environmental services in a changing world and which decision support tools can be applied to handle this?