Niels Strange

Niels Strange serves as Professor in Management Planning of Forest and Nature at the Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen. He is additionally affiliated with the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the GLOBE Institute and holds membership on the Danish Biodiversity Council.

His educational qualifications include:

• Dr. agro. (2009)
• PhD in Management Planning of Forest and Nature (2000)
• MSc in Forestry (1996)

Professor Strange's primary research focuses on forest, nature and biodiversity planning, specifically linking biological data and models with operations research and socio-economic methods for optimal land use analysis. His work addresses decision-making models under uncertainty, environmental economics integration, and valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. He investigates the optimal balance between land use and protection of natural resources, with particular attention to privately owned lands, regulation mechanisms, incentives, and landowner behavior.

His recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate growing emphasis on biodiversity valuation methodologies, business engagement with conservation efforts, transnational ecological compensation mechanisms, and the practical implementation of "no net loss" biodiversity policies. These works bridge environmental economics, conservation science, and policy development across multiple European research initiatives.

• Director of Erasmus Mundus Master Course Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (SUFONAMA) since 2007
• Head of Studies for the Master's programme Sustainable Forest and Nature Management
• Member of the Danish Biodiversity Council advising government and parliament

Professor Strange currently leads research projects on optimizing nature conservation, valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services, financing biodiversity protection in forests through the SUPERB initiative (forest-restoration.eu), and developing the strategic research and innovation agenda for European forest research (EUFORE, eufore.eu).