Nature Assessments for Futures Thinking

The SNAPP Innovation Hub is a new partnership between the Doris Duke Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Wildlife Conservation Society. The Innovation Hub funded two interdisciplinary working groups and three Research Fellows to strengthen the evidence for, and create a roadmap to implement, a shared vision for a nature-positive future in the United States.

  • What is nature worth, and how can people use this information to make a case for conservation?

This working group, part of the inaugural SNAPP Innovation Hub, aims to map how nature in the U.S. and on tribal lands improves our economy, health, and culture. By quantifying the value of nature and natural resources, the group will produce the first national assessment of ecosystem services.

It will also investigate how this information can meaningfully impact local conservation decision-making to help ensure continued prosperity for both people and public lands and waters. 

OUR APPROACH: This working group brings together experts in ecology, economics, social science, and policy to conduct a national assessment of ecosystem services and explore how these assessments can influence perceptions of nature and inform conservation decisions. We are using two complementary approaches — quantitative and qualitative — to integrate the best available data and insights.

The team will aggregate datasets, develop maps, and synthesize narratives that make the connections between nature and people’s wellbeing clear and actionable. We will also engage with potential users to evaluate how to make nature assessments easier to understand, access and use to address local conservation issues. This multi-faceted effort aims to strengthen conservation, enhance ecosystem services, and promote sustainable human-nature relationships well into the future.

Team Status:

  • Ongoing

Goals

  1. Synthesize existing datasets on ecosystem services and capture the stories of diverse communities to create a baseline and trends of the relationships with and reliance on nature in the U.S. 
  2. Assess how nature contributes to prosperity, health, and well-being in the U.S. and on tribal lands.
  3. Determine how to best communicate those values to a wide variety of audiences.
  4. Create products, stories, and tools that resonate with diverse audiences to equip them to defend, advocate for, and catalyze a vibrant future for nature and people.

Teams

Leaders

Danielle Ignance

  • University of Minnesota

Philip Loring

  • The Nature Conservancy

Becky Chaplin Kramer

  • World Wildlife Fund

Members

Will Gartshore

  • World Wildlife Fund

Carolyn Kousky

  • Insurance for Good / Environmental Defense Fund

Travis Warziniack

  • U.S. Forest Service, Ecosystems Services and Wilderness

Barker Fariss

  • Colorado State University, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands

Paul West

  • Project Drawdown

Sumil Thakrar

  • University of Edinburgh

Rob Griffin

  • Environmental Protection Agency

Sarah Weiskopf

  • U.S. Geological Survey

Anne Guerry

  • Natural Capital Insights / Emory University

Eric Lonsdorf

  • Natural Capital Insights / Emory University

Lydia Olander

  • Duke University

Laura Laumatia

  • Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Ian Luby

  • The Nature Conservancy

Steve Polasky

  • University of Minnesota

Christina Kennedy

  • The Nature Conservancy

Phil Levin

  • College of the Environment, University of Washington and The Nature Conservancy

Taylor Ricketts

  • University of Vermont

Ken Bagstad

  • The World Bank; US Geological Survey (USGS)

Joe Fargione

  • The Nature Conservancy

Advisors

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Innovation Hub Fellows

Jahnelle Howe
Jahnelle Howe is our SNAPP Innovation Hub Quantitative Research Fellow! Jahnelle will be conducting research to develop socioeconomic valuations of conserved areas across the United States, working closely with SNAPP Innovation Hub PIs Phil Loring, Beck Chaplin-Kramer (WWF), and Danielle Ignace (UMN). Jahnelle is based in New York City.

Quantitative Research Fellow

Helen Cheng
Helen Cheng is our SNAPP Innovation Hub Qualitative Research Fellow! Helen will be synthesizing and communicating the quantitative and qualitative data on the benefits of nature to the U.S. society. She will focus on fostering collaboration with a cross section of end-users to develop pathways of knowledge to action while utilizing equitable and place-based approaches to conservation and stewardship of nature. Helen will be working closely with SNAPP Innovation Hub PIs Phil Loring and Danielle Ignace. Helen is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Qualitative Research Fellow