Valuing Nature.
Informing Policy.

New article published in Ecological Economics. This work was conducted in the Oleson Lab with wonderful coauthors.

Abstract : Coral reefs are highly diverse and productive ecosystems that provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including recreation, coastal protection, and marine biodiversity. Climate change impacts, including ocean warming and acidification, pose a significant threat to coral reefs and the ecosystem services they provide. The variability of these impacts highlight the need to develop more spatially explicit tools in coastal ecosystem management that integrate and assess potential ecological and socio-economic outcomes. To address this, we use a spatially explicit predictive ecological model to project changes in coral reef cover using downscaled data from Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) climate scenarios. By coupling the projections to a recreational demand model we downscale impacts to 1 km squared grids and calculate net present value (NVP) across landscapes and islands. Our findings indicate cumulative NPV welfare losses by 2100 for Hawaiʻi residents range from $1.8 to $3.0 billion in 2024$. We examine per-capita loses and use EJScreen tool to assess variation in welfare impacts by identifying disadvantaged communities based on demographic and environmental indicators. The findings provide spatially explicit evidence linking projected ecological decline to distributed welfare losses, informing resource allocation and conservation prioritization across the Hawaiian Islands.

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

The report is here! This year has been rough for many in research, science, academia, public service, environmental and conservation spaces, humanaities, immigrants, students of the world, people with empathy, people who want to breath clean air, drink clean water...the list goes on. The year proved to disrupt my work and life in many ways, my research agenda upended and my career rerouted. However, I am proud to be one of the dedicated researchers to have come together to finish the work even with the chaos that insued. The Nature Report is a comprehensive assessment of the state of nature in the United States, covering topics such as biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the economic value of nature. The report is now available for public comment, and we encourage everyone to read it and share their thoughts.