Ecosystem Services and Conservation

Stanford researchers are continually expanding our knowledge of the links between human well-being and healthy ecosystems. Woods advances these efforts by supporting interdisciplinary researchers as well as centers and programs like the Natural Capital Project (NatCap). This joint venture of the Stanford Woods Institute, The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund and the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment develops new science and open-source software tools for quantifying nature’s values and assessing trade-offs associated with alternative land and water use choices. These tools help integrate conservation and human development into land and water use and investment decisions. NatCap's model engages leaders in key government agencies and corporations in the U.S. and abroad to ensure that information produced is immediately relevant for decisions. The project provides these decision-makers with cutting-edge research, a network of support, and practical approaches and tools to create solutions that benefit people and nature. Read on for highlights from the work researchers with NatCap and other Woods centers and programs are doing to help businesses, governments and other institutions make informed decisions about nature's contributions to a thriving economy and healthy society.

In The News

Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink

Smithsonian channel documentary that features work of Senior Fellow Elizabeth Hadly in Yellowstone National Park
November 1, 2014 - By , Smithsonian Channel

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Lighting Cultural Fires

Discusses research by Woods-affiliated researchers Rebecca and Doug Bird, looking at the use of fire among California...
September 29, 2014 - By Mary Ellen Hannibal, Boom: A Journal of California

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We Are on the Verge of a Sixth Mass Extinction

Discusses research led by Senior Fellow Rodolfo Dirzo
September 8, 2014 - By Joanna Rothkopf, Salon

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Global Warming May Mean Bye-Bye for Some Birdies

Quotes Senior Fellow Terry Root on report that finds climate change will drive approximately 650 North American bird species to smaller spaces or new...
September 8, 2014 - By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press via The Washington Post

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