Washington DC Expert Discussion: Integrating Natural Capital into Decisions
Washington DC Expert Discussion: Integrating Natural Capital into Decisions
The Nature Conservancy and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, in cooperation with their Natural Capital Project partners, the World Wildlife Fund and the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, are pleased to invite you to a public event on Integrating Natural Capital into Decisions. The event will feature leading academics and practitioners in the field of ecosystem services as well as experts from the public and non-profit sectors, addressing core sustainability challenges of the 21st century.
The Nature Conservancy and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, in cooperation with their Natural Capital Project partners, the World Wildlife Fund and the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, are pleased to invite you to a public event on Integrating Natural Capital into Decisions. The event will feature leading academics and practitioners in the field of ecosystem services as well as experts from the public and non-profit sectors, addressing core sustainability challenges of the 21st century.
Opening remarks
Lynn Scarlett, Managing Director for Public Policy, The Nature Conservancy
Panel
Ann Bartuska, Deputy Under Secretary for Research, United States Department of Agriculture
Tom Dillon, Senior Vice President for Forests and Freshwater, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Michele Lemay, Natural Resources Lead Specialist, Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services Program, Inter-American Development Bank
Mary Ruckelshaus, Managing Director, Natural Capital Project; Consulting Professor, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
MODERATOR Steve Polasky, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics and Institute on the Environment; Natural Capital Project
Speakers and panelists will highlight the latest advances in the science and practice of using ecosystem services to inform decisions. The discussion will provide insights into how this information can best be used by government agencies, multilateral institutions, and the broader sustainable development community to structure and implement policies that are simultaneously sound from environmental and economic perspectives. A panel of leading experts, including authors from a Special Feature of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on "Nature as Capital," will discuss key components of bringing natural capital considerations into mainstream decision making on issues such as agriculture, energy, infrastructure, urban planning, finance and national security.
Topics to be addressed include:
• What we currently know about the values of ecosystem services from interdisciplinary research;
• New and innovative tools to help policy makers and planners account for natural capital and ecosystem services;
• Lessons from use cases around the world in which natural capital understanding has successfully informed decisions;
• Examples of progress within the federal government and multilateral institutions and the identification of existing barriers;
• Means and mechanisms for governments to incentivize protection and discourage degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide to people.
Learn more about How Valuing Nature is Transforming Decisions.