CHANS, A Boston University Group

We explore fundamental questions about human sustainability through the comparative study of coupled human and natural systems. Science can help to restore in people a strong sense of place, including the awareness and knowledge required to live intelligently, sustainably, compassionately, and in harmony with nature. We seek to deepen the understanding of the relationship between society and nature–-and then to apply this to problems in conservation and economic sustainability.
Of course, these are difficult goals to achieve under the current situation: the world is overpopulated, many specie extinctions are in progress, anthropogenic climate change is running rampant, and society is plagued with inequities. The science required to address these problems is the same as that required to manage human society in a sustainable fashion. Since 2006, we have been building spatially explicit dynamic models, nourishing them with rich empirical data, and making the results available in the form of decision tools. We provide science support for the process of adaptive management and policy decisions.
Our modeling environment is called MIMES, which stands for “Multiscale Integrated Model of Ecosystem Services.”
The BU CHANS research program was inspired by an earlier comparative project conducted in collaboration with Conservation International, called the Marine Management Area Science Program, or MMAS. MMAS ran from 2005 – 2010, with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Our decision tool, is called MIDAS (Marine Integrated Decision Analysis System). MIDAS is a graphic user interface and portal into the many layers of spatial data that go into MIMES, and a visualization and decision tool that provides usable access to the results of MIMES itself.