Nature is an economic engine even more productive than Silicon
Valley, Wall Street, and the industries of Asia and Europe. It
produces goods, services, and amenities that—even though we may
take them for granted—underpin all other economic activity and
human well-being. We refer to nature’s production of clean and
available water, breathable air, and productive soils, along
with its provision of beauty and recreational opportunity, and
ability to protect us from floods and diseases, as ecological
wealth. The goal of RFF’s Center for the Management of
Ecological Wealth (CMEW) is to make ecological wealth apparent
and amenable to management. Ecological wealth usually has no
owner—it is value that is shared—and we don’t see it priced or
traded by markets. Economically speaking, ecological wealth
tends to be invisible. This invisibility is problematic. Growing
appetites for natural resources—due to population growth and
corresponding demands for food, water, land, and energy—will
further stress natural systems al