What we do

We help find win-win solutions for protecting nature.

Natural Capital Insights is a consultancy firm that merges scientific knowledge and technology for strategic guidance on development. Building on two decades of experience from the Natural Capital Alliance, we provide spatial insights on nature's benefits to support sustainable development planning for governments, agencies, and NGOs that support people and planet.

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An aerial view of a city highway with multiple lanes of traffic, surrounded by trees with fall-colored leaves, and residential buildings with orange-tiled roofs.

How we are making a difference

Measuring & mapping the value of nature to people.

Our team combines expertise in ecosystem science, data analysis and visualization, and software development to offer comprehensive solutions that address the complex challenges of large-scale land-use planning aimed at achieving sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Our goal is to shepherd decision-making towards landscapes that promote multiple objectives and lead to a sustainable future. 

We believe economic prosperity,
environmental protection,
and social progress cannot be separated.

Meet Our Team

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    Peter Hawthorne 

    CO-FOUNDER

    Dr. Peter Hawthorne (he/him) brings more than 10 years of experience in ecology, economics, and computation to spatial planning for multi-benefit landscapes. He was a lead author and analyst for a groundbreaking report on Nature’s Frontiers in collaboration with the World Bank, which demonstrated how 146 countries around the world can use their natural capital in more efficient and sustainable ways.

  • A smiling man with short gray hair, glasses, wearing a blue collared shirt, standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

    Eric Lonsdorf

    CO-FOUNDER

    Dr. Eric Lonsdorf (he/him) has over 15 years experience developing ecosystem service and natural resource management models for land management decisions. He works across systems from agricultural landscapes to urban environments. He has worked with the Natural Capital Project for the last eight years, co-leading their livable cities program and helping to develop models underlying the InVEST software.

  • A woman with curly light brown hair tied up, wearing sunglasses on her head, smiling outdoors with trees in the background.

    Adrian Vogl

    CO-FOUNDER

    Dr. Adrian Vogl (she/her) has over 15 years of experience in leading interdisciplinary collaborative teams. Her work focuses on providing spatial analytics on the values of ecosystem services at national and regional scales, and developing actionable plans for using nature-based solutions to help meet policy and development goals.

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    Chris Nootenboom

    CO-FOUNDER

    Chris Nootenboom (he/him) has been modeling ecosystem services for close to a decade. He specializes in the benefits of urban nature and its connection to socio-economic inequalities in cities, creating decision-support tools for habitat restoration, and designing geospatial tools to aid corporate sustainability efforts.

  • A man with a beard and dark hair wearing a beige baseball cap, a blue checkered shirt, and a black earpiece, smiling while taking a selfie in front of a wooden piece of furniture and a television.

    Saleh Mamun

    ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIST

    Prior to his work at NCI, Dr. Saleh Mamun was a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota’s Applied Economics Department and Natural Resources Research Institute, where he brought his perspectives from business, development, and engineering to a wide variety of environmental issues. At NCI, Saleh focuses on natural resource economics and ecological economics, the valuation of environmental amenities and hazards, and integrating ecosystem services values into the land-use optimization decisions.

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    Jorge León Sarmiento

    GEOSPATIAL ANALYST

    Dr. Jorge León Sarmiento has extensive experience developing and deploying spatial tools for ecosystem services modeling and assessment, landslide and land degradation risk, prioritizing investments in nature-based solutions in rural landscapes, and training local staff in the use of these tools in multiple countries in Latin America and Africa.

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    Evariste Rutebuka

    GEOSPATIAL ANALYST

    Dr. Evariste Rutebuka (he/him) brings over ten years of experience, including advising the World Bank on multiple projects prioritizing investments in nature-based solutions in Africa and Eurasia. His expertise spans spatial modeling from urban to regional landscapes. Beyond modeling, Evariste is well-versed in the policy-science interface, particularly in developing biodiversity indicators that support cross-policy reports, based on his research at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Flexibility • Innovation • Engagement

A desert landscape with tall cacti, dry shrubs, rocky terrain, and a distant salt flat. Mountains are visible on the horizon under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Ready to work with us?

Together, let’s design landscapes that foster your sustainable development goals