Erin Gray

Environmental Economist

Bio

Erin is an Environmental Economist with WRI’s Economics Center. She provides cross-programmatic economics support geared towards encouraging decision-makers around the globe to consider and invest in the environment as a means of supporting livelihoods and economies. Her areas of expertise include ecosystem service valuation, cost-benefit, cost-efficiency, and multi-criteria analysis, ecosystem service markets and conservation finance, ecosystem and landscape-based restoration, and adaptation monitoring and evaluation.

Her current work concentrates on: conducting economic analysis of green and gray water infrastructure investment decisions for public and private sector actors; developing technical and analytical guidance, methods, and tools to support ecosystem and human health valuation and uptake of results by decision makers; designing adaptation monitoring and evaluation guidance for watershed development in India; and supporting efforts to promote water quality trading in the Chesapeake Bay.

Before joining WRI, Erin worked for ICF International on climate change and sustainability issues. She conducted multiple economic valuations and developed frameworks to evaluate global and domestic economic impacts of Federal energy policies. She also has several years’ experience working on land conservation issues in North Carolina and evaluating impacts and participation eligibility for U.S. ecosystem service markets.

Erin received her Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, concentrating in Environmental Economics and Policy. Erin also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and Environmental Analysis and Policy from Boston University.

Erin is based in Washington DC with her husband, son, and dog, and is an avid runner and capoeirista.

Blog Posts

How Do You Pick the Right Adaptation Strategy? 4 Tools Can Help
by Moushumi Chaudhury, Juan-Carlos Altamirano, Helen Ding and Erin Gray - December 15, 2016
There are a lot of ways for countries and communities to adapt to climate change. Choosing the right one can be tricky.
How Do You Know if Adaptation Is Working? Lessons from Kumbharwadi, India
by Erin Gray - December 02, 2016
One community in Maharashtra, India has been restoring its watershed for years in order to create a stable water supply and adapt to climate change. A new tracking system will evaluate whether this and other climate adaptation projects are actually effective.
Beneath the Caribbean Sea, a Wastewater Problem Lurks Unnoticed
by Erin Gray - June 20, 2016
Most of the Caribbean's sewage spews into the sea untreated, bringing with it pollutants like nutrients, fecal matter, oil and more. Part of the reason is that Caribbean governments lack data on how wastewater pollution affects ecosystems and human health, or what realistic solutions exist.
Community Forests: Good for the Environment, Good for the Economy
by Erin Gray and Peter Veit - November 04, 2015
Community forests serve as a vital source of livelihood, nutrition and medicine for the world's Indigenous Peoples. New research shows these forests have another advantage: generating billions of dollars in benefits for rural peoples and society.
To Achieve New Climate Targets, Countries Should Look to Community Forests
by Matthew Witkin and Erin Gray - November 02, 2015
The world’s legally recognized community forests hold about 37 billion tonnes of carbon, about 29 times the annual carbon footprint of all the passenger vehicles in the world.
Making Economic Valuation Count for Coastal Ecosystems in the Caribbean
by Richard Waite and Erin Gray - February 18, 2014
Governments, businesses, development agencies, and NGOs are increasingly turning to economic valuation as a way to protect coral reefs and mangroves. This process makes the economic case for protection and sustainable use of natural resources by showing the monetary, employment, and infrastructure benefits ecosystems provide—metrics that are easily understood by decision-makers.

But not all economic valuations are created equal. WRI's new guidebook shows how NGOs and other stakeholders can conduct economic valuations in ways that lead to real change on the ground.
India’s Watershed Development Boosts Food Security, Improves Livelihoods
by Erin Gray and Arjuna Srinidhi - December 19, 2013
India struggles with water scarcity, a problem that poses especially huge implications for the country’s food security and rural livelihoods. The country has long-battled its scarcity issues through Watershed Development, a participatory approach to improve water management through afforestation and reforestation, sustainable land management, soil and water conservation, water-harvesting infrastructure, and social interventions. But while watershed development has been employed in communities throughout India, its potential long-term costs and benefits have not been well-understood or studied--until now.

A new working paper from WRI and WOTR finds that watershed development has provided more than $9 million dollars’ worth of food security and water management benefits to the water-stressed community, Kumbharwadi.
Climate Change Adaptation in Rural India: A Green Infrastructure Approach
by Erin Gray - January 24, 2013
Water is a scarce resource in India, especially in the state of Maharashtra, where most rainfall is limited to the monsoon season from June through September. The Government of India has long promoted a Participatory Watershed Development (PWD) approach to deal with this scarcity.
Eco-Compensation in China: Opportunities for Payments for Watershed Services
by Erin Gray and Cy Jones - May 15, 2012
Water supply and availability could be the most pressing problem restricting China’s economic growth in the next 10-15 years, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank. Not only are water resources limited (only about 30 percent of total water resources are available for use), but many surface and groundwater sources are suffering from severe pollution.[^1] The Chinese government is now looking to invest in new ideas to improve water quality and supply, and WRI is using its water quality trading expertise to explore the potential of market-based methods to improve water quality and increase the supply of clean water from Chao Lake, the fifth-largest lake in China.
Payments for Watershed Services: Pilot Projects for Watershed Protection
by Erin Gray and John Talberth - February 29, 2012
Forested watersheds of the southern United States provide numerous services to the region. At no cost, they purify water, control flooding and erosion, and provide places for people to relax and have fun. Yet despite their value, many watersheds are under threat from development and poor land management.

“Payments for Watershed Services” (PWS) programs are one strategy to keep watersheds healthy. Through a PWS program, landowners receive financial incentives to conserve, sustainably manage, and/or restore watersheds to yield the kinds of benefits described above.

Publications

Tracking Adaptation Success for Community Level Watershed Development in India
This working paper presents a joint effort by the World Resources Institute and the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), a WSD implementing and research organization based in Pune, India, to develop an adaptation monitoring and evaluation (M&E) or tracking system to track success of WSD...
by Erin Gray, Mithika D’Cruz, Suchita Awasthi and Marcella D’Souza - December 2016

publication
Topics: Climate Resilience, Economics
Geography: India
Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs
The Economic Case For Securing Indigenous Land Rights in the Amazon
A new report offers evidence that the modest investments needed to secure land rights for indigenous communities will generate billions in returns—economically, socially and environmentally—for local communities and the world’s changing climate. The report, Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs:...
by Helen Ding, Peter Veit, Erin Gray, Katie Reytar, Juan-Carlos Altamirano, Allen Blackman and Benjamin Hodgdon - October 2016

publication
Topics: Governance, Climate
Geography: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Latin America
The Economic Costs and Benefits of Securing Community Forest Tenure
Evidence From Brazil and Guatemala
This Working Paper presents the economic costs and benefits of securing community forestland rights in Brazil and Guatemala.

by Erin Gray, Peter Veit, Juan-Carlos Altamirano, Helen Ding, Piotr Rozwalka, Iván Zúñiga, Matthew Witkin, Fernanda Gabriela Borger, Andrea Lucchesi, Paula Carvalho Pereda and Keyi Ando Ussami - November 2015

publication
Topics: Forests, Economics
Geography: Brazil, Guatemala
Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean
This guidebook details the steps in conducting a coastal ecosystem valuation to inform decision making in the Caribbean. It guides valuation practitioners—both economists and non-economists—through the three phases of a valuation effort (scoping, analysis and outreach), with an emphasis on...
by Richard Waite, Lauretta Burke, Erin Gray, Pieter van Beukering, Luke Brander, Emily McKenzie, Linwood Pendleton, Peter Schuhmann and Emma Tompkins - February 2014

publication
Topics: Food, Water, Economics
Geography: Caribbean
Watershed Development in India
Economic Valuation and Adaptation Considerations
This paper examines how economic valuation can improve our understanding of watershed development and how to overcome challenges related to data collection, valuing direct and indirect benefits, and climate change adaptation.

by Erin Gray and Arjuna Srinidhi - December 2013

publication
Topics: Governance, India, Climate, Food
Geography: India
Insights from the Field: Forests for Water
This issue brief describes analyses by the World Resources
Institute (WRI) in support of emerging payments for watershed
services (PWS) programs in two major watersheds in Maine and
North Carolina and insights gleaned from work in progress. The
three pilot initiatives...
by John Talberth, Erin Gray, Evan Branosky and Todd Gartner - February 2012

publication
Topics: Water, Forests
Geography: United States

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Erin Gray

How Do You Pick the Right Adaptation Strategy? 4 Tools Can Help

How Do You Know if Adaptation Is Working? Lessons from Kumbharwadi, India

Beneath the Caribbean Sea, a Wastewater Problem Lurks Unnoticed

Community Forests: Good for the Environment, Good for the Economy

To Achieve New Climate Targets, Countries Should Look to Community Forests

Making Economic Valuation Count for Coastal Ecosystems in the Caribbean

India’s Watershed Development Boosts Food Security, Improves Livelihoods

Climate Change Adaptation in Rural India: A Green Infrastructure Approach

Eco-Compensation in China: Opportunities for Payments for Watershed Services

Payments for Watershed Services: Pilot Projects for Watershed Protection

Tracking Adaptation Success for Community Level Watershed Development in India

Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs

The Economic Case For Securing Indigenous Land Rights in the Amazon

The Economic Costs and Benefits of Securing Community Forest Tenure

Evidence From Brazil and Guatemala

Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean

Watershed Development in India

Economic Valuation and Adaptation Considerations

Insights from the Field: Forests for Water

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The Economic Case For Securing Indigenous Land Rights in the Amazon

Evidence From Brazil and Guatemala

Economic Valuation and Adaptation Considerations

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