Watch: Natural Capital as Infrastructure

Description

As California faces mounting threats from extreme heat, flooding, drought, wildfire, and sea-level rise, its natural capital—resources such as forests, wetlands, watersheds, and coastlines—play an essential role in the State’s climate resilience. This expert briefing explored the role of natural capital in policy, planning, and public investment decisions as infrastructure alongside traditional gray infrastructure. Drawing on the framework of Natural Capital Assessment and Accounting (NCAA), the event equips California policymakers and staff with practical tools for understanding how ecosystem health translates into measurable economic value, risk reduction, and long-term fiscal resilience.

Partners and State Support
Held in partnership with the the Stanford Natural Capital Alliance, this expert briefing is part of CCST’s Disaster Resilience Initiative. Generously supported by the State of California, the Disaster Resilience Initiative connects science and technology experts and policymakers focused on the overlapping, intersecting, and compounding nature of disasters in California.

Watch

Panelists

Jenn Phillips

Moderator
Assistant Secretary of Climate Change
California Natural Resources Agency

Lisa Mandle, PhD

Co-Executive Director
Natural Capital Alliance

Rafael Schmitt, PhD

Assistant Professor at the Environmental Studies Program
University of California, Santa Barbara

Tong Wu, PhD

Research Scholar
Natural Capital Alliance

About CCST
The California Council on Science and Technology is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that engages leading experts in science and technology to advise state policymakers — ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation. Established via a unanimous vote of the Legislature in 1988, CCST has been making California’s policies stronger with science and technology for nearly 40 years.