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On Wednesday, the White House finalized guidance directing agencies to weigh the impacts of proposed projects, policies, and regulations on human health and people's enjoyment of the outdoors.
These contributions to human welfare from the environment are known as ecosystem services, and the finalized guidance will provide agencies with the latest research and methodologies to ensure that ecosystem services are accurately accounted for. For example, a hydropower project could benefit human health by being a less-harmful alternative to burning fossil fuels, but it could also prevent fish migration, which can decrease biodiversity and reduce angling opportunities.
With a wide variety of imaginable outcomes for any proposed project, ecosystem service impacts can be difficult to measure. That's why the guidance lays out a general methodology to help agencies factor ecosystem services into their already-required cost-benefit analyses, like measuring direct and indirect impacts on the ways people benefit from nature.
New podcast episode: What Western voters want in 2024
In the latest episode of The Landscape, Kate and Aaron are joined by pollsters Lori Weigel and Dave Metz to discuss the 14th Annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West Poll. The poll surveys voters in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado on their environmental views. This year, it found support for conservation of nature is higher than ever.
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People have become much more acutely aware of the value of nature over the last several years since the pandemic, and it really shows up in this year's data.”
