Nearly all types of natural capital—the world’s stock of resources provided by nature—are in decline. The ecosystem services that flow from those natural capital assets – such as fertile soils for crops, rich ocean life supporting tourism and productive fisheries, and dense forests for carbon capture – are necessary for life on Earth.
Recognizing the essential services provided by natural capital, Nature’s Frontiers: Achieving Sustainability, Efficiency, and Prosperity with Natural Capital proposes a novel approach to address these foundational challenges of sustainability. A methodology combining innovative science, new data sources, and cutting-edge biophysical and economic models builds sustainable resource efficiency frontiers to assess how countries can sustainably use their natural capital in more efficient ways. The analysis provides recommendations on how countries can better utilize their natural capital to achieve their economic and environmental goals.
Join for a presentation from the authors and a panel discussion on the country-level applications of this work.
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm EDT (10 mins)
12:25 pm - 12:45 pm EDT (20 mins)
12:55 pm - 13:30 pm EDT (35 mins)
13:30 pm - 13:50 pm EDT (20 mins)
13:53 pm - 14:00 pm EDT (7 mins)
Carl Folke is Director of the Beijer Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Founder and Chair of the Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. His research on the resilience of people and nature, show how progress, prosperity and wellbeing will benefit from reconnecting development to the biosphere. Carl has a long...
Peter Hawthorne is the head of Hawthorne Spatial, an independent consultancy specializing in environmental modeling, decision support, and spatial optimization. Previously he was a lead scientist with the Natural Capital Project, where his work focused on developing approaches to modeling and improving co-benefits in environmental decision-making, including through optimization and policy analysis. He holds a BA...
Valerie Hickey is a Global Director for Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy (ENB) at the World Bank. Prior to that she was a manager for Advisory and Operations in the Climate Change Group, where she oversaw the implementation of the World Bank’s commitments on climate change, climate mainstreaming and climate finance, and before that...
Stephen Polasky is Regents Professor and Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological/Environmental Economics at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on issues at the intersection of ecology and economics, including the value of ecosystem services and natural capital, biodiversity conservation, land use, sustainability, common property resources, and environmental regulation. Polasky is a co-founder of the Natural Capital...
Julie Rozenberg is a Senior Economist in the office of the Regional Director for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. She focuses on the link between development policy and climate change adaptation and mitigation policies, working with countries on building more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive growth trajectories. She currently coordinates World Bank core diagnostics...
Mary Ruckelshaus is executive director of the Natural Capital Project and a senior research associate at Stanford University. She previously held leadership positions with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and served as assistant professor of biological sciences at Florida State University. Her recent work has been devoted to developing standard approaches to valuing nature...
Giovanni Ruta is lead environmental economist in the Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice at the World Bank, East Asia and Pacific region, where he coordinates the operational and analytical agenda on green growth, climate change, biodiversity, and natural resource management. He joined the World Bank in 2001 and has worked on the economics...
Juha Siikamäki is Chief Economist of International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN), leading IUCN’s work in economics globally. He has more than 20 years of experience working on different aspects of the economics of nature, recently especially on natural capital accounting and valuation and nature-based solutions. He is a member of the Editorial Board and...
Adrian Vogl is a lead scientist for Stanford University’s Natural Capital Project and a consultant with the World Bank. Her work engages researchers, policy makers, and civil society groups worldwide, advancing the science and practice of nature-based solutions for water security. Her focus is on how land management affects water and other ecosystem service co-benefits, particularly...
Anna Wellenstein is the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Practice Group. Ms. Wellenstein is responsible for the World Bank’s agriculture, climate, disaster risk management, environment, land, social, urban, and water portfolios in the region. Prior to this, Ms. Wellenstein was Director for Strategy and Operations of the World...