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The Natural Capital Symposium is back! Register by May 1st for this high-level international convening of leaders driving the transformation toward green, inclusive development. This event, to be held at Stanford University, will feature inspiring advances in science, policy, finance, social, cultural, and other pathways to informing decisions and pioneering scalable solutions based on natural capital and ecosystem service approaches.
Join leaders from government, multilateral development finance, the private sector, research institutions, and civil society for engaging and interactive sessions highlighting successes in research, data, tools, and practice. We welcome you to attend and share lessons; develop capacity; and build our momentum, focus, and commitment as a global community -- hatching ambitious new plans for collective action at unprecedented scales.
Program Description
Key Information & Registration
Related Resources
Program Description
This year’s Symposium will focus on mainstreaming natural capital approaches in policy and investment decisions. Sessions are designed to appeal to participants from a wide variety of backgrounds and will highlight stories of success, innovations, and impact in policy and finance instruments; discuss how to conduct natural capital assessments and accounting and tailor them for diverse applications; and explore new research frontiers. An updated list of session topics is below and agenda is here:
- Keynote on urban ecology, equity, and environmental justice
- Scaling the impact of natural capital approaches in governments and international financial institutions
- Natural capital approaches in action
- Private sector action for nature
- Urban nature and health
- Results-based financing and finance to revive biodiversity
- Natural capital accounting
- Approaches to economic valuation
- Nature, art, and empathy
- Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) in China and around the world
- Investing in resilient oceans
- Disease risk in changing landscapes
- Equity, justice, and the reciprocal relationship between people and nature
- Contributed talks on: urban nature; freshwater; global natural capital approaches; marine and coastal; agriculture and traditional ecological knowledge
- Trainings on sustainability for business and finance, and on InVEST modeling
- Poster session with contributions from participants all over the world
Participants in the 2019 NatCap Symposium
Key Information & Registration
- When does the Symposium start and end?
- The Symposium will start with lunch on Tuesday, June 4th, and end before lunch on Friday, June 7th.
- What if I can’t attend every day of the event?
- You will be able to select registration options for attending different portions of the event for an adjusted fee.
- If I’m coming from out of town, where can I stay and how much would it cost?
- https://visit.stanford.edu/basics/lodging.html (you may ask the hotels if they have a 'Stanford' rate)
- Where at Stanford will this be held?
- The Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center, 326 Galvez St, Stanford, CA 94305
- What are the parking options?
- Will there be a virtual participation option?
- We are sorry but there will not be a virtual option this year. However, we will be recording many of the plenary/keynote sessions and will share those on our YouTube channel afterward. We will also be livetweeting some of the sessions from our X/Twitter account using the hashtag #NatCap2024.
- Can I attend the June 3-4 People, Planet, Prosperity Forum?
- We appreciate the interest, but the 1.5-day forum just preceding the Symposium is by invitation-only, for participants in the People, Planet, Prosperity project. We will however be sharing more about this exciting work during the Symposium, and our plans to expand it.
- What are registration rates/dates? (See the registration site for costs of attending 2 days, 1-1.5 days, and a half day)
| General Attendee (all four days) | Student (including Postdocs) | Low-Income/ Lower-Middle Income Countries (based on the World Bank listing) | |
| Early bird registration runs through April 15 [CLOSED] | $600 | $300 | $275 |
| Regular registration runs through May 1 | $800 | $400 | $275 |
- Can Stanford faculty, staff, and students attend for free?
- Please be in touch with us at natcapsymposium@stanford.edu to receive a registration code.
- Are there opportunities for others to volunteer and attend for free?
- Students and postdoctoral researchers from any institution can volunteer and receive free registration for the day they volunteer. Please fill out this form if you are interested.
- Is there a dress code?
- Business casual.
- Will translation be provided?
- For the most part, there will not be translation services provided this year. We may be providing translation for one session led by a high-level delegation from China.
- What is the COVID protocol?
- We encourage all attendees to stay home if they are sick, and to test for COVID prior to attending. Masks are optional.
- Which meals will be provided?
- Tuesday, June 4: coffee; lunch
- Wednesday, June 5: coffee; lunch
- Thursday, June 6: coffee; lunch
- Friday, June 7: coffee
- Can I get a refund if I register now and then can no longer attend?
- If you cancel by May 4, there is a $50 fee. After that, it is not refundable.
- How do I get in touch with specific questions?
Please contact us at natcapsymposium@stanford.edu.
Related Resources
If you are new to the field of natural capital and ecosystem services, here is some background that may be helpful:
- NatCap’s Virtual Training page and YouTube channel
- Natural Capital Approaches Explainer 4-pager
- Report on Natural Capital Approaches, June 2022
- Green Growth Explorer interactive data visualization site