BIONEERS PLENARY – Gretchen Daily – Harmonizing People and Nature: A New Business Model

Leaders around the world are increasingly recognizing ecosystems as natural capital assets that supply life-support services of tremendous value. The challenge is to turn this recognition into incentives and institutions that will guide wise investments in natural capital, on a large-scale. Gretchen Daily will illuminate advances being made on three key fronts: the development of new science and technical tools for valuing Nature, such as InVEST, a software system developed by the Natural Capital Project; new policies and finance mechanisms being implemented worldwide, including in China, South America and the U.S.; and the engaging of leaders in forging a deep and lasting transformation. Gretchen Daily is a Professor of Environmental Science and Director of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford. She co-directs The Natural Capital Project, a partnership among Stanford, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund and the University of Minnesota.