Interview with a NatCapper: Megan Meacham
In this interview, we talk with Megan Meacham, a scientist at the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), one of the Natural Capital Project (NatCap)’s core partners. Megan’s work with NatCap aims to connect finance and biodiversity to advance science for a liveable planet.
Tell us a little bit about your role at SRC.

I am a researcher at SRC, working on human-nature connections, primarily focused on ecosystem services in Sweden and now more recently Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP). I also help manage a strategic research collaboration between NatCap and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, funded by the Wallenberg Foundation. We help connect the strengths of the different partnership organizations to advance global environmental stewardship. My role is to act as a bridge between the organizations. Our projects cover different themes, such as GEP, nature for human health and urban livability, the resilience and complexity of environmental and social systems, and corporate biosphere stewardship – in other words, how businesses can responsibly manage their impact on the natural environment.
Can you talk a little bit about your background and the road you took to get to SRC?
I’ve been in this coordinating management role for about four years, but I became involved with NatCap during my PhD. After finishing my undergrad in economics, I was searching for something aligned with both my values and my interest in nature. I ended up finding SRC in 2007 through the master’s program there. I worked at the Centre on and off between my Master’s and Ph.D.
My Ph.D. research focused on ecosystem services in Sweden, testing methods for how to assess multiple ecosystem services using publically available data, and how the services interact with each other. Around this time, the Centre was strengthening its relationship with NatCap, and I worked a little with the partnership on how to think about the connections between ecosystem services. After my Ph.D., I started to engage with NatCap’s urban and cities team, focusing on nature-based solutions and their relationship to ecosystem services.
Can you describe your experiences collaborating with NatCap and how this partnership is useful to you and your work?
In the beginning of our partnership, it took some time to align our approaches and language. We all come in with different approaches, concepts, and methods, and learning how to combine them is part of that.
Now, we have a good understanding of each other’s strengths. Being involved in the urban and cities team at NatCap is great because it’s a very active and open group. We have come up with exciting projects together (such as this recent paper), and I learn a lot from them.
What motivates you to do this work?
Our mission at SRC is to advance science for a liveable planet. In particular, we want to understand the world from a systems perspective. People are a part of nature, and everything is interconnected. Acknowledging that complexity can lead to simpler, more effective solutions – such as working across sectors to find win-wins. For example, we can identify key leverage points or root causes of problems rather than focusing on surface-level symptoms. This often reveals that small, targeted interventions can have large-scale impacts, simplifying the approach needed to solve the problem.
I also value SRC’s commitment to pluralism and multiple perspectives. There isn’t one clear vision for the future we’re building, so I feel like there’s room for a lot of different perspectives on the world.
It's always fun because you’re learning something new all the time. We’re moving into areas that haven't traditionally worked together before, like finance and biodiversity. No one’s an expert in both, so we’re all coming to the table very humbly, but there are huge opportunities for making an impact. It’s also a real luxury to be surrounded by people who are passionate, smart, and fun.
Tell us about a key NatCap project you are working on right now.
NatCap is an impact partner in one of the programs I manage, Finance to Revive Biodiversity, or FinBio. This multi-year, multi-partner program focuses on connecting the finance industry with the need to rethink its impacts on biodiversity.
This past spring, we wrote a joint report with the Inter-American Development Bank about how finance depends on and impacts natural capital in the Amazon. We launched this report during NatCap’s symposium in June.
Lastly, what do you like to do in your spare time?
Most of my spare time is spent with my two little kids, which is always fun. I love being outdoors and recently got into stand-up paddleboarding—I picked up my boards in June!
The Natural Capital Project is a partnership based out of Stanford University, with core partners at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm Resilience Centre, the University of Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, and WWF.