Stories: People & Ecosystems

Valuing Nature’s Assets: Business Accounts for Fresh Water, Biodiversity, Forests, Coral Reefs and Wetlands for Long-Term Viability and Profit

The earth’s diminishing natural and environmental resources are getting a new look from global business leaders – and not for the sake of philanthropy. Through new analytic approaches and tools that assess and value the fragile ecosystems virtually all businesses depend on, corporate leaders are beginning to understand that natural resources are as important to future profitability as interest rates or capital depreciation schedules.

Palm Oil, Timber and Carbon Offsets (POTICO), a project of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the NewPage Corporation, is making progress toward conserving rainforests in Indonesia by creating an ecologically and fiscally sustainable palm oil industry.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has elected three new members to its board of directors:  Kathleen A. McGinty, a specialist in clean technologies and operating partner at Element LLC, Douglas R. Oberhelm, group president of sustainable development at Caterpillar, and Dr. Susan Tierney, an expert in energy policy and economics and a consultant at the Analysis Group, Inc.

Existing data and indicators inadequately measure the important benefits people derive from the services nature provides, according to a working paper released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and other leading international environmental organizations today launched the Ecosystem Services Experts Directory, a public online directory that allows journalists, business leaders, and governments to locate and contact specialists in ecosystem services.

Greater meat consumption and demand for fossil fuels worldwide are expected to cause increasingly more harmful algal blooms and dead zones in coastal and freshwater areas.