[Prosperity] springs from nature.
At The Natural Capital Project we’re developing practical tools and approaches to account for nature’s contributions to society, so that leaders of countries, companies, communities, and organizations worldwide can make smarter decisions for a more sustainable future.
Valuing natural capital can work for you.
Whether you’re in the business of crafting good policy or optimizing investments, valuing natural capital can help you accomplish your goals.
How do we know it works?
Dig into our work testing the benefits of natural capital valuation.
SCIENCE FOR ACTION
Learn more about our experiences co-developing science and putting it to work in the real world.
PUBLICATIONS
Browse our publications library to see how rapidly the science and real-world applications of natural capital approaches are evolving.
IN THE NEWS
Find stories about people using natural capital in a wide array of decisions.
Dive In.
NatCap has learned a lot while working on the science of natural capital and using that knowledge to inform decisions. We’ve built some of that learning into free software and educational materials to help you assess the role of natural capital in the places and contexts that matter to you.
Try our tools, take one of our online courses, come to a training, get help on our online forum, collaborate with us, or come share your stories at one of our events.
What we’re up to.
Catch up on the latest news and events at The Natural Capital Project.
RESEARCH: New offshore wind farm study highlights a breakthrough in the way wind projects are sited.
The last few pilings are currently being driven into the seafloor, securing the foundations for the first offshore wind farm in the United States. By modeling and mapping visibility and wind power up front, before a project is sited, NatCap researchers show how this project off the coast of Rhode Island, and others proposed up and down the coast, could save years of research and stave off millions in litigation.
TRAINING PROGRAM: Join us for a 3-day course in Stellenbosch, South Africa Nov 14, 16-17
We’re holding a three day training course on The Natural Capital Project approach and toolkit at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, in South Africa, right after the 2015 Ecosystem Services Partnership World Conference, November 14th, 16th-17th. Attendance for Day One only or all three days is possible. Click here for more information or here to register.
NEWS: How to Save Indonesia's Forests | NYT Op Ed by NatCap advisor Brent Harris
Fires in Indonesian peatland. Ryan Woo, CIFOR/ Flickr CCL
The emissions from illegal forest fires in Indonesia have harmed the lungs of 200,000 people, Harris reports. “Since September, the daily emissions generated by Indonesia’s forest fires exceed the average daily emissions from all economic activity in the United States.”
EVENT: NatCap kicks off its tenth anniversary year, with more to come
TNC’s Glenn Prickett describes how — ten years since Quito, Ecuador started a water fund to connect upstream and downstream communities and to invest in restoring watersheds — there are now 40 cities following suit. “How do we meet this incredible demand for the value of nature?” The panel convened at Stanford earlier in October and included NatCap’s Anne Guerry & Gretchen Daily, WWF’s Tom Dillon, and NatCap/ U-Minnesota’s Steve Polasky, to celebrate ten years of The Natural Capital Project.
We will be continuing the conversation at our annual Natural Capital Symposium at Stanford March 21-24, 2016. Please join us!
NEWS: NatCap Featured In NYT Science
In “A Shifting Approach to Saving Endangered Species” the New York Times consults various environmental groups, including NatCap co-founders Gretchen Daily, Peter Kareiva and Taylor Ricketts.
“Gretchen Daily, a professor of environmental sciences at Stanford and a founder, with Dr. Kareiva and two others, of the Natural Capital Project, said that the Endangered Species Act, by focusing on individual species and emphasizing regulation over incentives, had pitted land users against conservationists and “never really cultivated the view that we could harmonize human activity with conservation.”
As a result, conservation has been “a lose-lose battle,” said Dr. Daily, who is an author of “The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable,” an influential 2002 book.
She and other scientists said that the law could not hope to address the challenges of a world where whole ecosystems were threatened and vast areas of habitat were disappearing.”
The article links to Peter Kareiva et. al.’s Conservation in the Anthropocene article and concludes with a statement from NatCap co-founder Taylor Ricketts, who underscores how nature can be valued for its intrinsic contributions and for the services it provides, at the same time.
“I don’t see why it’s a problem to talk on several levels about the importance of conserving nature,” said Taylor Ricketts, the director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont and a founder of The Natural Capital Project. He added, “The big mistake has been to frame this as a choice.”
