YSE Economist Plays Key Role in Newly Finalized Guidance on Accounting for Ecosystem Services
How do proposed projects such as logging or new pipelines affect the benefits people derive from parks, wetlands, forests, and other natural resources? Until now, there have not been any specific federal guidelines directing agencies on how to assess ecosystems impacts. Eli Fenichel, Knobloch Family Professor of Natural Resources Economics at YSE, played a critical role in a new first-of-its kind guidance finalized by the White House in February, which provides a blueprint to assess how ecosystem services can be enhanced or diminished by federal rules.
Fenichel helped develop the guidance while on leave in 2021 to serve as assistant director for natural resource economics and accounting at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The agency, along with the Office of Budget Management (OBM) was tasked by President Biden with modernizing regulatory reviews to incorporate the assessment of natural assets.
“This is an avenue for real change. We’ll have more consistency in rulemaking and regulation around how we think about environmental services. Agencies will take a clearer and more deliberate view of how different rules or different programs create or alter the services people get from the environment and ecosystems,” Fenichel said.
While the value of ecosystems has sometimes been included in federal assessments in the past, there has never been a government wide directive or guidance for all federal agencies to account for costs and benefits of actions that impact natural resources. This omission has led to the “under-valuing and erosion of our natural resources,” said Arati Prabhakar, director of OSTP, and Richard Revesz, administrator for Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB.
Agencies now must identify direct and indirect impacts on how their proposed actions might affect ecosystem services and establish a no-action baseline and explore alternative options.
March 11, 2024
Eli Fenichel
Knobloch Family Professor of Natural Resource Economics
More News in Brief
The Importance of Tracking Earth-System Methane Fluxes
Methane is one of the most powerful levers for slowing near‑term warming, yet the world still lacks the tools to track it with confidence. Sparkle Malone, assistant professor of ecosystem carbon capture, explains why a coordinated global observation system is essential for understanding both human and natural methane emissions.
Read the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture Q&A with YSE faculty Sparkle Malone.
May 07, 2026
Sparkle Malone
Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Carbon Capture
UK Lawmakers Visit Yale to Explore Nature-Based Climate Solutions Up Close
The Yale Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability recently hosted a delegation of Members of the British Parliament as part of a four-day Connecticut visit organized by the British American Parliamentary Group. The six MPs met with Karen Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science, to discuss climate policy, urbanization, and the role of cities in addressing climate change.
The visit included a tour of New Haven’s bioswales. Bioswales are a landscaping feature designed to slow, filter, and redirect stormwater runoff, slowly filtering it through sediment into the groundwater or allowing it to be absorbed by native plants. They help prevent flooding and reduce pollution that would otherwise flow into rivers and streams. The Urban Resources Initiative has partnered with the city to help lead the construction and management of the bioswales. Approximately 200 bioswales have been installed across downtown New Haven through this broader effort, with about 50 adjacent to Yale’s campus.
“Seeing the bioswale presented me with a simple and effective option I want to take back and suggest to my local authority. Not only would it alleviate flooding problems, but it could also be an attractive green feature that could enhance areas, " said Christine Jardine, Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West.
The visit also provided an opportunity to explore collaboration between UK policymakers, the City of New Haven, and YSE on sustainability and climate resilience initiatives.
March 27, 2026
Karen Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science; Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability; Co-Director of the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions
Colleen Murphy-Dunning
Program Director, Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, Urban Resources Initiative (URI); Lecturer in Urban and Community Forestry
YSE Doctoral Candidate Honored with ESA Policy Award
Jonathan Gewirtzman, a doctoral candidate in ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry, has received the 2026 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award from the Ecological Society of America. He is one of 20 students from universities across the U.S. to be honored with the award.
Recipients of the award travel to Washington, D.C. for policy, communication and career training and they meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Gewirtzman, a National Science Foundation Research Fellow, investigates greenhouse gas cycling in forests and wetlands aimed at informing strategies for mitigating natural emissions and enhancing nature-based climate solutions.
“ESA has been an important community for me throughout my graduate career — a place to connect with ecologists across subfields and to build leadership experience as an officer of the Biogeosciences Section. I'm excited for the opportunity to learn firsthand from scientists and policymakers working at that interface,” Gewirtzman said.
February 19, 2026
