A process to incorporate the benefits of nature for human well-being will help USACE achieve more comprehensive benefits accounting and therefore more informed project evaluation. Ideally, this work, in combination with related EWN research, will continue to increase USACE’s ability to deliver projects that meet the expressed interests of non-federal sponsors and will support important shifts in public infrastructure planning currently underway in the nation including greater use of natural infrastructure and consideration of equity.
In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the profound benefits nature offers to human well-being. From improving mental health to mitigating pollution and fostering social cohesion, the value of nature in enhancing societal welfare cannot be overstated. However, despite these well-documented benefits, there has been a lack of standardized approaches to quantify and incorporate them into infrastructure projects, leading to missed opportunities for maximizing societal well-being and equitable distribution of benefits.
Addressing this gap, the Engineering With Nature (EWN) project “Equitably Incorporating The Well-Being Benefits Of Nature” is developing methodologies that account for the myriad co-benefits of nature-based infrastructure projects. One promising approach under development is a nature-centric well-being index, which aims to capture and quantify the multifaceted contributions of natural elements to human well-being.
To bolster these efforts, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between the Environmental Laboratory of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and the Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST EL). This collaboration brings together expertise from both institutions to advance the quantification of nature’s benefits and support more informed decision-making in infrastructure planning and development.
Through its Community Resilience Program, NIST EL conducts social science research to help improve community resilience with a focus on the role of buildings and infrastructure. NIST EL has expertise in selecting indicators that can be used to understand community needs and anticipate the impact of efforts to improve resilience. Community resilience planning guidance and tools developed by NIST are enhanced by extensions such as the benefits accounting proposed by the ERDC. Improved methods for justifying and siting resilience actions are in great demand throughout the federal government. Both parties have significant interest in supporting practitioners to improve resilience decision-making.
Margaret Kurth, a research engineer in the ERDC Environmental Laboratory, emphasizes the significance of this partnership: “By joining forces with NIST EL, we can leverage their expertise in social science research to better understand community needs and anticipate the impact of resilience efforts. This collaboration will enable us to develop robust methodologies for quantifying the benefits of nature-based infrastructure, ultimately leading to more resilient and equitable communities.”
Maria Dillard, a research social scientist at NIST, echoes this sentiment: “Our Community Resilience Program is dedicated to improving communities by understanding the role of buildings and infrastructure in meeting societal needs. Partnering with ERDC EL allows us to integrate nature-based solutions into our resilience efforts, contributing to more holistic and effective strategies to enhance community resilience.”
This collaborative effort marks another step forward in the integration of nature’s benefits into infrastructure planning, paving the way for more resilient, equitable, and sustainable communities.
