Co-Founder & Faculty Director, Natural Capital Project, Stanford

Gretchen Daily

Bing Professor of Environmental Science, Stanford University
Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Director of the Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University

Gretchen C. Daily (she/her) is co-founder and Faculty Director of the Stanford Natural Capital Project. Founded in 2005, the Natural Capital Project (NatCap) is a global partnership whose goal is to integrate the values of nature into planning, policy, finance, and management. Its tools and approaches are now applied in 185 nations through NatCap’s free, open-source InVEST Software Platform.

Daily is the Bing Professor of Environmental Science in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, the Director of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford, and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Daily’s work is focused on understanding human dependence and impacts on nature and the deep societal transformations needed to secure people and nature. Her work spans fundamental research and policy-oriented initiatives to open inclusive and green development pathways. She co-develops pragmatic approaches, engaging with governments, multilateral development banks, investors, businesses, farmers and ranchers, communities, and NGOs.

Together with many colleagues, Daily has published about four hundred scientific and popular articles, and thirteen books, including Nature’s Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems (1997), The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable (2002), Natural Capital: Theory and Practice of Mapping Ecosystem Services (2011), The Power of Trees (2012), One Tree (2018), Green Growth that Works: Natural Capital Policy and Finance Mechanisms Around the World (2019), and Rural Livelihood and Environmental Sustainability in China (2020 in English).

Daily is a fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts, and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

She has received numerous international honors including the 2020 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, 2017 Blue Planet Prize, 2019 BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award, 2012 Volvo Environment Prize, 2010 Midori Prize for Biodiversity, and the 2009 International Cosmos Prize.

Contact

gdaily@stanford.edu

Mail Code

5020

Location

Stanford University

Stanford Profile

Publications

Bringing nature into decision-making. (2024). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 379(1903). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0313
Gross ecosystem product (GEP): Quantifying nature for environmental and economic policy innovation. (2023). Ambio. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01948-8
Diversified farms bolster forest-bird populations despite ongoing declines in tropical forests. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(37), e2303937120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2303937120
Centring justice in conceptualizing and improving access to urban nature. (2023). People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10470
Echeverri, A. ., Furumo, P. ., Moss, S. ., Figot Kuthy, A., García Aguirre, D. ., Mandle, L., Valencia, I. ., Ruckelshaus, M. ., Daily , G. ., & Lambin , E. . (2023). Colombian biodiversity is governed by a rich and diverse policy mix. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01983-4
Schmitt, R., Rosa , L. ., & Daily, G. (2022). Global expansion of sustainable irrigation limited by water storage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(47), e2214291119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2214291119
Langhans, K. E., Schmitt, R. J. P., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Anderson, C. B., Vargas Bolaños, C., Vargas Cabezas, F., Dirzo, R., Goldstein, . J. A., Horangic, T., Miller Granados, C., Powell, T. M., Smith, . J. R., Alvarado Quesada, I., Umaña Quesada, A., Monge Vargas, R., Wolny, S., & Daily, G. C. . (2022). Modeling multiple ecosystem services and beneficiaries of riparian reforestation in Costa Rica. Ecosystem Services, 57, 101470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101470
Urban Nature and Biodiversity for Cities: Policy Brief. (2021). http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36325
Blending Ecosystem Service and Resilience Perspectives in Planning of Natural Infrastructure: Lessons from the San Francisco Bay Area. (2021). Frontiers in Environmental Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.601136
Mapping the benefits of nature in cities with the InVEST software. (2021). Urban Sustainability, 1(25). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-021-00027-9
Increasing decision relevance of ecosystem service science. (2021). Nature Sustainability, 4, 161-169. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00625-y
Using gross ecosystem product (GEP) to value nature in decision making. (2020). PNAS, 117(25), 14593-14601. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911439117
Mandle, . L. ., Zhiyun , O., Salzman, . J. ., & Daily, . G. . (2019). Green Growth That Works. Natural Capital Policy and Finance Mechanisms Around the World. Island Press. https://islandpress.org/books/green-growth-works