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

Where Have all the Animals Gone?

Feature story on extinction study by Senior Fellow Rodolfo Dirzo
July 24, 2014 - By Joel Achenbach, Washington Post

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Our Taste for Cheap Palm Oil Is Killing Chimpanzees

Quotes Woods Senior Fellow Lisa Curran, professor of environmental anthropology, on the effects of palm oil plantations on the environment
July 11, 2014 - By Carrie Arnold, The Daily Beast

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Study: Salamanders in the Appalachians Are Smaller

Quotes Woods Senior Fellow Paul Ehrlich on the possible link between climate change and the diminishing size of salamanders in the Appalachian...
June 29, 2014 - By Bruce Smith, Associated Press via Washington Post

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Should Scientists 'Jurassic-Park' Extinct Species Back to Life?

Quotes Woods Senior Fellow Paul Ehrlich on the disadvantages of de-extinction science
May 2, 2014 - By John D. Sutter, CNN

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