Gretchen Daily

Gretchen Daily, the Bing Professor in Environmental Science and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, was in Monaco last week to receive the Biodiversity Award given annually by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. The award is one of three given by the foundation each year. The others are for work in the areas of climate change and water.

The letter informing her of the award stated that she was chosen because of “your contribution to the science and your work for a better understanding of our environment.”

The award includes 40,000 euro to help support her work, along with a trophy and an expense-paid trip to Monaco to attend the awards ceremony.

His Serene Highness Prince Albert II personally presented each of the winners with their awards in a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 7.

Prince Albert II established the foundation in 2006 to “protect the environment and encourage sustainable development.”

Asked for her thoughts on winning the award, Daily replied by email, “Funding from the award will boost the research of my students, for which I am very grateful and thrilled! Together in the Center for Conservation Biology, we are working to illuminate and quantify the many ways in which Nature benefits people – whether through pollination and pest control on farms, enhancement of water supplies, or improvements in cognitive function – and on how to harmonize people and Nature. Together with the Natural Capital Project, we are packaging this fundamental research into practical tools and using them in major resource decisions around the world. In China, for example, 25 percent of the country’s land area – across all provinces – is now being zoned to secure vital natural capital, and our tools are being used to delineate these areas.”

Daily is the director of both the Natural Capital Project and the Center for Conservation Biology.