Ecosystem Services and Conservation
Research Area block
The true worth of our natural world is still being discovered.
The Stanford Woods Institute is helping quantify how land and water meet society’s needs and predicting benefits from investments in nature. To that end, Stanford researchers are integrating scientific and economic understanding of natural assets. They are delivering that knowledge, developing clear, credible and practical software-based tools and showing marine and land-use managers around the world how to use them. This enables decision-makers not only to maximize the societal value of land and water, but also to evaluate and assess potential decisions on conservation, human development and natural resources investment. This approach holds the promise of transforming how governments and businesses factor the values of nature into policy and decision-making.
Research Centers and Programs
Natural Capital Project »
The Natural Capital Project melds world-class research on environmental economics with influential conservation programs. The center’s Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) software suite enables decision-makers to quantify nature’s values, assess tradeoffs associated with alternative land- and water-use choices and integrate conservation and human development into land- and...
Osa & Golfito Initiative (INOGO) »
The Osa & Golfito Initiative (INOGO) is facilitating the development of a strategy for sustainable human development and environmental stewardship in Costa Rica’s Osa and Golfito region. INOGO works hand in hand with Costa Ricans in local communities, government, the private sector and NGOs. The goal is to generate a...
Water in the West »
The western United States needs water systems that are sustainable from economic, ecological, political, institutional, equitable, scientific and legal points of view. The American West is an arid region to begin with explosive growth and increased drought are creating a water crisis. Research can help solve this crisis, but research...
Other Research Centers and Programs
Environmental Venture Projects
Natural Flood Mitigation »
Deforestation and unplanned development increase the risk of flood damage to lives and property, particularly in dense urban and coastal areas. Decision-makers around the world want to incorporate into planning information about the conditions in which natural ecosystems and land management can help mitigate flood risks.
Scenarios for Survival of a UNESCO World Heritage Site »
Combining the Distribution of Semi-Aquatic Mammal Populations with Ecohydrologic Analysis
View More Environmental Venture Projects For This Research Area
Realizing Environmental Innovation Program
Bird-Safe Wind Turbines »
Despite the potential contribution of wind energy to emissions reductions, wind turbines have significant ecological impacts through the killing of birds and bats that collide with spinning blades.
Open Space Management Model »
There are more than 1,100 land trusts across the United States, which collectively, have conserved more than 56 million acres of land—about double the amount of public land in national parks in the lower 48 states. Often these dynamic conservation areas are overseen by a relatively small staff who may...
View More Realizing Environmental Innovation Program Projects For This Research Area
News & Press Releases
Stanford Experts on Hurricane Harvey Impacts »
Stanford experts comment on how climate change and infrastructure planning contribute to the severity of impacts from extreme weather events like Hurricane Harvey.
By Devon Ryan,
View More News & Press Releases
Media Coverage
Natural gas, meet Silicon Valley. The challenge for mobile methane monitoring is now underway »
Dr. Adam Brandt teams up with EDF for the Stanford/EDF Mobile Monitoring Challenge (MMC) to "rigorously test and compare the most promising new mobile technologies and approaches to quickly detect and quantify methane emissions."
By Ben Ratner and Ramon Alvarez,
