Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature

Mark R. Tercek is president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, which he joined in 2008. Tercek was previously a managing director and Partner at Goldman Sachs, where he ultimately led the firm's environmental strategy. He lives in Washington, DC.

In Nature's Fortune, Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy and former investment banker, and science writer Jonathan Adams argue that nature is not only the foundation of human well-being, but also the smartest commercial investment any business or government can make. The forests, floodplains, and oyster reefs often seen simply as raw materials or as obstacles to be cleared are, in fact, as important to our future prosperity as technology, law, or business innovation. With stories from the South Pacific to the California coast, the Andes to the Gulf of Mexico, Nature's Fortune shows how viewing nature as green infrastructure allows for breakthroughs not only in conservation, but in economic progress as well. Organizations obviously depend on the environment for key resources--water, trees, and land. But they can also reap substantial commercial benefits in the form of risk mitigation, cost reduction, new investment opportunities, and the protection of assets. Once leaders learn how to account for nature in financial terms, they can incorporate that value into the organization's decisions and activities, just as habitually as they consider cost, revenue, and ROI.