Green Growth That Works

Rapid economic development has been a boon to human well‑being, but comes at a significant cost to the fertile soils,

forests, coastal marshes, and farmland that support all life on earth. If ecosystems collapse, so eventually will human

civilization. One solution is inclusive green growth—the efficient use of natural resources. Its genius lies in working with

nature rather than against it.

 

Green Growth That Works is the first practical guide to bring together pragmatic finance and policy tools that can make

investment in natural capital both attractive and commonplace. Pioneered by leading scholars from the Natural Capital

Project, this valuable compendium of proven techniques can guide agencies and organizations eager to make green

growth work anywhere in the world.

Lisa Mandle is a Lead Scientist at the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University. Her research is focused on the impacts of land management and infrastructure development on ecosystem service provision and on the social and economic equity dimensions of ecosystem service benefits. She is also leading new science in ecosystem change and human health, with practical applications.
Mandle has worked with governments, multi-lateral development banks, and nongovernmental organizations to incorporate this understanding into development decisions, particularly in Latin America and Asia. Mandle led development of guidance for the Inter-American Development Bank on integrating natural capital into road planning and investment, and of a decision-support software tool for biodiversity and ecosystem service offsets in Colombia. She has also led trainings around the world on natural capital-based approaches and tools for decision-making.



Zhiyun Ouyang is professor and director of Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He leads unparalleled efforts to bring understanding of the earth system to bear on crucial societal issues of extreme poverty and environmental degradation research in a wide range of areas. He is focused principally on ecosystem services, ecosystem assessment, and ecological planning from city to national scales, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation including the design of China’s new national park system, and policy and finance mechanisms for achieving green growth. He has opened the science of ecosystem services, ecosystem restoration, and biodiversity conservation and moved it into real-world practice, at scale in China and beyond. Ouyang has published over a dozen books and hundreds of scientific articles and reports, including more than 150 papers in international journals. His books include Developing Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) and Ecological Asset Accounting for Eco-compensation (2017), Ecological Security Strategy (2014), Regional Ecosystem Assessment and Ecosystem Service Zoning (2009). He serves as the president of Ecological Society of China, and the board member of International Association of Ecology. He has won three national Science and Technology Achievement awards of China.



James Salzman is the Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law with joint appointments at UCLA Law School and the UC Santa Barbara, School of Environment. He was the first scholar to address the legal and institutional aspects of creating markets for ecosystem services. He has worked with governments in Australia, Canada, China, India, New Zealand, and other countries to help design their payments for ecosystem services programs.
Salzman’s research ranges from drinking water and policy instrument design to conservation and trade conflicts. Author of over 90 articles and 10 books, his publications have been downloaded over 100,000 times. Active on environmental boards and in government policy bodies, he serves on both the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency of the US) and the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee.  His previous book, Drinking Water: A History (2012) is widely read.


Gretchen C. Daily is Bing Professor of Environmental Science at Stanford University, where she also serves as Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; Director of the Center for Conservation Biology; and cofounder and faculty director of the Natural Capital Project, a global partnership driving innovation to value nature explicitly and systematically in policy, finance and management. Daily’s interdisciplinary research is focused on harmonizing people and nature, in: biodiversity dynamics and conservation, land use and agriculture, and human livelihoods; the production and value of ecosystem support for human health, prosperity and overall well-being; and policy and finance innovation for achieving inclusive green growth. She works with decision-makers in key contexts worldwide, co-developing practical tools and widely shared approaches.Daily has published hundreds of scientific and popular articles. Her dozen books include Nature’s Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems (Island Press, 1997), The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable (Island Press, 2002), Natural Capital: Theory and Practice of Mapping Ecosystem Services (2011), Research on Rural Household Livelihood and Environmental Sustainable Development (2017, in Chinese), and One Tree (2018). She is a fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.