Biographical Sketch

Gretchen Daily is Bing Professor of Environmental Science in the Department of Biology; Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment; and Director of the Center for Conservation Biology. She is also co-founder of The Natural Capital Project, a partnership among Stanford University, the University of Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund, and, whose goal is to improve well-being of people and the environment by aligning economic forces with conservation.

An ecologist by training, Daily’s work spans scientific research, teaching, public education, and working with leaders to advance practical approaches to environmental challenges. Daily’s scientific research is on biodiversity change; on the scope for harmonizing biodiversity conservation and agriculture; on quantifying the production and value of ecosystem services across landscapes; and on new policy and finance mechanisms for integrating the values of natural capital into major decisions. Her efforts span fundamental research and policy-oriented demonstration projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania.

Daily works extensively with private landowners, economists, lawyers, business people, and government agencies to incorporate environmental issues into business practice and public policy. 

Daily received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. Her recent honors include the 21st Century Scientist Award (2000), election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2005), and the American Philosophical Society (2008), The Sophie Prize (2008), The International Cosmos Prize (2009), and the Midori Prize (2010). She serves on the boards of the Stockholm Resilience Center and The Nature Conservancy. She has published ca. 200 scientific and popular articles and her most recent books are The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable, with journalist Katherine Ellison, and Natural Capital: Theory and Practice of Mapping Ecosystem Services, co-edited with several colleagues.