Measuring What Matters: Comprehensive and Equitable Evaluation of Benefits (Virtual and In Person)

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in collaboration with The Water Institute of the Gulf, will hold a one-day summit to discuss the comprehensive and equitable evaluation of benefits of nature-based solutions (NBS).

Currently, benefit-cost analysis (BCA), as applied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) water resource projects, is ‘tuned’ to evaluating the national economic value of projects. However, the science of quantifying and comparing the economic, environmental and social benefits and costs of water resources projects has advanced significantly in recent years.

The discussions will look at how balancing across multiple goals and applying improved methods, may lead to a more comprehensive and equitable assessment of how integrated water resources projects—including projects that integrate conventional engineering and NBS—add value to communities across the nation in ways that create resilience in the face of climate change.

This event will bring together government, nonprofit, academic, and private sector collaborators to share recent progress and identify key next steps for evaluation and planning. Both the National Academies and The Water Institute of the Gulf will present from recent projects with USACE’s Engineering with Nature Initiative and seek input from federal, academic/NGO, and private sector participants.