It’s January, and the cold hangs like a lid over Lemvig in Denmark. Inside the meeting room, coffee cups steam while maps with coloured lines lie scattered across the table. Municipal employees, landowners, and nature advocates lean over them. The Green Tripartite has brought them together to design the future landscape: low-lying soils must be retired, forests must rise, and nature must have space. But how do you do that without breaking agriculture, and without breaking trust? 

From plan to practice

The Green Tripartite was launched as a historic collaboration between agriculture, nature organisations, and municipalities. The ambition is clear: reallocate land, reduce nitrogen emissions, sequester carbon, and create more nature.

After a year, the plans are ready. Twenty-three local tripartite groups have submitted their visions for Denmark’s future. But now comes the hard part: implementation.

“2026 will be the reality test,” said Morten Graversgaard from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University at the Plant Congress held January 7–8 in Herning. “2025 was about processes and relationships. Now it’s about landowners and economics. We know this not only from our own observations but from the first comprehensive evaluation of the tripartite collaboration, based on questionnaires and interviews with participants and municipal facilitators. The evaluation shows that trust has been built, but it’s fragile and person-dependent. That’s why implementation in 2026 will be the real stress test.”

Robustness is key

Researchers from Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen are closely following developments through the Transform project, which aims to support the Green Tripartite with knowledge and decision-making tools.

Professor Tommy Dalgaard from the Department of Agroecology calls robustness the decisive word:

“A robust land-use plan isn’t just one that looks good on paper. It must survive political shifts, economic shocks, and climate change, while delivering on climate, nature, and agriculture.” He and Professor Henrik Vejre from the University of Copenhagen emphasised this in their presentation at the Plant Congress.

Robustness means:

• Flexibility: Plans must adapt when conditions change.
• Multifunctionality: Projects must deliver on multiple agendas: nitrogen, carbon, biodiversity, not just one, while allowing sustainable agricultural development.
• Support: Both political and public. Landowner involvement is crucial, but broad citizen dialogue is missing.
• Financing: Schemes must be more flexible so good projects don’t fail due to technicalities.

The Transform project is developing models to show where land-use changes have the greatest impact and how to combine agricultural production with nature and climate efforts.

Why does it matter?

If the transition succeeds, Denmark can take a historic step toward meeting both the Climate Act’s targets and EU requirements for water quality and biodiversity. If it fails, we risk losing not just time, but trust.

“The tripartite agreement was a necessary precondition, but it’s not sufficient on its own,” stressed Morten Graversgaard. “We now need capacity, voluntariness, and clear frameworks, or we’ll stall.”

Voices from practice

Municipalities face a huge task. As project officer Emil Grøn from Lemvig Municipality said at the congress:
“We’ve been busy drawing lines on maps. Now we need to drink coffee with landowners and bring the projects to life.”

From finger plan to future landscape

Robustness isn’t static. It’s the ability to adapt without losing direction. If the Green Tripartite is to succeed, we must combine knowledge, dialogue, and flexible solutions. And perhaps, as Henrik Vejre said with a twinkle in his eye, learn from the Finger Plan of 1947:

“It has survived for 80 years because it was well thought out and had broad support. That’s the kind of robustness we should strive for.”

For more information: 

Morten Graversgaard, Associate Professor, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University. Tel: +45 25645560

Tommy Dalgaard, Professor, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University. Tel: +45 20706132

Henrik Vejre, Professor, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen. Tel: +45 20621015

Camilla Brodam Galacho, Communications Advisor, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University. Tel.: 93522136