Reviewing the Implementation of Natural Capital Approaches

Incorporating the values of nature into climate adaptation, agriculture, and development is critical. This new report analyzes the experiences of NatCap and Global Environment Facility (GEF) agencies in implementing natural capital approaches in various countries, to identify key factors for success and better understand critical barriers to more rapid implementation.

The Report on Natural Capital Approaches was commissioned by the GEF's Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) and conducted by The Natural Capital Project. We and our GEF agency collaborators are committed to working with countries to further innovate and implement natural capital approaches. Stay tuned for further news!

Read the report

Recent Press & Publications

Humans need to value nature as well as profits to survive, UN report finds
Phoebe Weston | The Guardian | July 11, 2022

25 years of valuing ecosystems in decision-making
Gretchen Daily & Mary Ruckelshaus | Nature | May 31, 2022

Stanford experts discuss California’s 30x30 initiative – one of the most ambitious conservation efforts ever
Rob Jordan | Stanford News | April 25, 2022

Almeida, R. M., Schmitt, R., Grodsky, S. M., Flecker, A. S., Gomes, C. P., Zhao, L., Liu, H., Barros, N., Kelman, R., & McIntyre, P. B. (2022). Floating solar power could help fight climate change—Let’s get it right. Nature, 606(7913), 246–249. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01525-1

Bremer, L. L., Nathan, N., Trauernicht, C., Pascua, P., Krueger, N., Jokiel, J., Barton, J., & Daily, G. C. (2021). Maintaining the Many Societal Benefits of Rangelands: The Case of Hawaiʻi. Land, 10(7), 764. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10070764

Cavalcanti, L. N., & Valente, B. D. (2022, March). Manejo das águas urbanas: Nova perspectiva para o Jockey Club Brasileiro. revista inea na, 5–15.

Ceres. (2022, April 11). The Global Assessment of Private Sector Impacts on Water. Ceres. https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/global-assessment-private-sector-impacts-water

Daily, G. C. (2021). The Next Steps for Valuing Nature in Decision Making. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 63(6), 17–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2021.1979858

Daily, G. C., & Ruckelshaus, M. (2022). 25 years of valuing ecosystems in decision-making. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01480-x

Farrell, C. A., Aronson, J., Daily, G. C., Hein, L., Obst, C., Woodworth, P., & Stout, J. C. (2021). Natural capital approaches: Shifting the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration from aspiration to reality. Restoration Ecology, n/a(n/a), e13613. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13613

Galaz Rodriguez, V., & Collste, D. (2022). Economy and Finance for a Just Future on a Thriving Planet [Report]. Stockholm University. https://doi.org/10.17045/sthlmuni.19792957.v1

Griffin, R., Vogl, A., Wolny, S., Covino, S., Monroy, E., Ricci, H., Sharp, R., Schmidt, C., & Uchida, E. (2020). Including Additional Pollutants into an Integrated Assessment Model for Estimating Nonmarket Benefits from Water Quality. Land Economics, 96(4), 457–477. https://doi.org/10.3368/wple.96.4.457

Guerry, A. D., Silver, J., Beagle, J., Wyatt, K., Arkema, K., Lowe, J., Hamel, P., Griffin, R., Wolny, S., Plane, E., Griswold, M., Papendick, H., & Sharma, J. (2022). Protection and restoration of coastal habitats yield multiple benefits for urban residents as sea levels rise. Npj Urban Sustainability, 2(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-022-00056-y

Hummel, M. A., Griffin, R., Arkema, K., & Guerry, A. D. (2021). Economic evaluation of sea-level rise adaptation strongly influenced by hydrodynamic feedbacks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(29), e2025961118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2025961118

Kondolf, G. M., Schmitt, R. J. P., Carling, P. A., Goichot, M., Keskinen, M., Arias, M. E., Bizzi, S., Castelletti, A., Cochrane, T. A., Darby, S. E., Kummu, M., Minderhoud, P. S. J., Nguyen, D., Nguyen, H. T., Nguyen, N. T., Oeurng, C., Opperman, J., Rubin, Z., San, D. C., … Wild, T. (2022). Save the Mekong Delta from drowning. Science, 376(6593), 583–585. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm5176

Manley, K., & Egoh, B. N. (2022). Mapping and modeling the impact of climate change on recreational ecosystem services using machine learning and big data. Environmental Research Letters, 17(5), 054025. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac65a3

Mansur, A. V., McDonald, R. I., Güneralp, B., Kim, H., de Oliveira, J. A. P., Callaghan, C. T., Hamel, P., Kuiper, J. J., Wolff, M., Liebelt, V., Martins, I. S., Elmqvist, T., & Pereira, H. M. (2022). Nature futures for the urban century: Integrating multiple values into urban management. Environmental Science & Policy, 131, 46–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.01.013

Meacham, M., Norström, A. V., Peterson, G. D., Andersson, E., Bennett, E. M., Biggs, R. (Oonsie), Crouzat, E., Cord, A. F., Enfors, E., Felipe-Lucia, M. R., Fischer, J., Hamann, M., Hanspach, J., Hicks, C., Jacobs, S., Lavorel, S., Locatelli, B., Martín-López, B., Plieninger, T., & Queiroz, C. (2022). Advancing research on ecosystem service bundles for comparative assessments and synthesis. Ecosystems and People, 18(1), 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2022.2032356

Prado, K. M., Bremer, L. L., Nelson, S., Brauman, K. A., Vargas, A. M., & Gould, R. K. (2021). “Putting Suppliers on the Map:” Centering Upstream Voices in Water Funds Outreach. Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 174(1), 85–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1936-704X.2021.3362.x

Raes, L., Meza Prado, K., Nájera, M., Hawthorne, P. L., Saborío, J. L., Chacón, Ó., Vogl, A. L., & Sanchún, A. (2022). Atendiendo compromisos globales y necesidades hídricas locales. IUCN. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2022.04.es

Ruckelshaus, M., Guerry, A., Mandle, L., Vogl, A., & Nathan, N. (2022). Report on Natural Capital Approaches (p. 81). Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel. https://www.stapgef.org/resources/advisory-documents/natural-capital-approaches

Serra-Llobet, A., Jähnig, S. C., Geist, J., Kondolf, G. M., Damm, C., Scholz, M., Lund, J., Opperman, J. J., Yarnell, S. M., Pawley, A., Shader, E., Cain, J., Zingraff-Hamed, A., Grantham, T. E., Eisenstein, W., & Schmitt, R. (2022). Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenvs.2021.778568

Stokesbury, K. D. E., Fay, G., & Griffin, R. (2022). A framework for categorizing the interactions of offshore windfarms and fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science, fsac118. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac118

Trifonova, N., Scott, B., Griffin, R., Pennock, S., & Jeffrey, H. (2022). An ecosystem-based natural capital evaluation framework that combines environmental and socio-economic implications of offshore renewable energy developments. Progress in Energy, 4(3), 032005. https://doi.org/10.1088/2516-1083/ac702a

U. Pascual, P. Balvanera, M. Christie, B. Baptiste, D. González-Jiménez, C.B. Anderson, S. Athayde, R. Chaplin-Kramer, S. Jacobs, E. Kelemen, R. Kumar, E. Lazos, A. Martin, T.H. Mwampamba, B. Nakangu, P. O’Farrell, C.M. Raymond, S.M. Subramanian, M. Termansen, M. Van Noordwijk, A. Vatn (eds.). (2022). Summary for policymakers of the methodological assessment of the diverse values and valuation of nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6832427

Zheng, H., Wang, L., Peng, W., Zhang, C., Li, C., Robinson, B. E., Wu, X., Kong, L., Li, R., Xiao, Y., Xu, W., Ouyang, Z., & Daily, G. C. (2019). Realizing the values of natural capital for inclusive, sustainable development: Informing China’s new ecological development strategy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(17), 8623–8628. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1819501116

Press

Humans need to value nature as well as profits to survive, UN report finds. By Phoebe Weston. July 11, 2022. The Guardian.

Episode 3: Exploring the Future - Green City Approaches and Solutions from around the World. Green Cities Podcast Series. July 8, 2022. USAID.

Nature's true value overlooked in decision making--IPBES. By Helen Briggs. July 11, 2022. BBC News.

Stanford Researchers reveal add-on benefits of natural defenses against sea-level rise. By Sarah Cafasso. June 9, 2022. Stanford News.

Realizan taller sobre desarrollo sostenible de los llanos de Moxos. By Bravo Franco and Gentileza de Roier. May 26, 2022. Contacto.

Saving the Mekong River Delta from drowning. By Rob Jordan. May 6, 2022. Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Costa Rica Protects Biodiversity and Made it Accessible. By Alejandra Echeverri Ochoa and Jeffrey R. Smith. April 27, 2022. LA Progressive.

Stanford experts discuss California’s 30x30 initiative – one of the most ambitious conservation efforts ever. By Rob Jordan. April 25, 2022. Stanford News.

How much is nature worth? By Michaela Haas. April 4, 2022. SZ Magazin.

Protecting biodiversity is essential to boost tourism, says study. By Allan Madriz. March 31, 2022. La Republica.