January 14, 2025

Duke Experts Offer Resources for Activating Nature

Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

For two decades, experts at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability have undertaken actionable research and developed purposeful partnerships aimed at integrating nature’s benefits into decision-making.

Launching today, the Nature Activation Hub elevates and organizes this work—bringing together tools, guidance and research to make it easier for decision-makers and practitioners to find what they need. These resources on nature-based solutions, ecosystem services and natural and working lands have been generated via projects with Duke faculty, federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations and various networks.

“Increasingly, decision-makers and practitioners in the public and private sectors are realizing they can enlist nature to address daunting environmental and societal challenges,” said Nature Activation Hub director Lydia Olander, who is also an adjunct professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment. “The Nature Activation Hub offers credible information, examples and resources to help them identify opportunities to scale up nature-based solutions.”

Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage or restore natural or modified ecosystems to address societal challenges to benefit both people and the environment. Examples include oyster reefs to stabilize shorelines, forest conservation to sequester carbon and green infrastructure such as rain gardens to capture rainwater runoff.

The Nature Activation Hub’s work with its partners currently addresses these key areas:

The hub also hosts the National Ecosystem Services Partnership, which engages more than 2,000 public and private sector stakeholders to enhance collaboration within the ecosystem services community, including on nature-based solutions.

The Nature Activation Hub website serves as a portal for accessing the Nicholas Institute’s extensive portfolio of work on nature-based solutions and features several new and emerging projects:

The hub’s work engages the expertise of renowned Duke scholars in policy, finance, law, engineering and ecology on projects that are closely aligned with the Duke Climate Commitment. Key partner organizations at the university include the Pratt School of Engineering, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Duke Wetland and Coasts Center, Duke RESILE, Duke Restore and the Natural Resources Finance Initiative.

“Internal and external partnerships have been critical to the Nicholas Institute’s work on the benefits of nature,” said Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute. “The Nature Activation Hub’s launch highlights the results of these partnerships and opens the door for new projects and collaborations, strengthening Duke’s capacity for advancing nature-based solutions.”