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

Viewpoints: Environmental Water Market Would Help the Losers in This Drought

Op-ed authors, including Stanford Woods Institute Co-Director Buzz Thompson, argue for special water market during drought
February 2, 2014 - By Jay Lund, Ellen Hanak and Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Sacramento Bee

Read More

Ants in Space! Cygnus Craft Delivers 640 New Astronauts to Space Station

Describes Woods Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon's studies of ants and how humans may learn from them
January 24, 2014 - By Sudeshna Chowdhury, Christian Science Monitor

Read More

Efforts to Curb Unbridled Grown That's Killing the Planet

Quotes Woods Senior Fellow Gretchen Daily on quiet efforts to include the value of nature in economic decision making
January 4, 2014 - By Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle

Read More