Rachel Neugarten

Degree MS (Cornell), PhD (Cornell, ongoing)
Position Graduate student
Email Address ran63@cornell.edu
My research focuses on understanding the effectiveness of conservation interventions for achieving biodiversity conservation outcomes, as well as impacts on human well-being. My focus is on tropical developing countries, which contain a disproportionate share of the world’s most threatened and unique species, as well as people who are most dependent on natural resources for their lives and livelihoods.

Current Research:

My current research has two central themes. First, I am collaborating with scientists from the Natural Capital Project, King’s College London, and others to develop the first-ever, high-resolution global maps of fifteen ecosystem services. We are bringing together the latest ecosystem service models, including InVEST and Co$ting Nature, as well as numerous global datasets, to map important areas for provisioning (marine fisheries, riverine fisheries, grazing timber, fuelwood), regulating (flood regulation, coastal protection, pollination, nitrogen retention, sediment retention, atmospheric moisture recycling), and cultural (access to nature, coral reef tourism, linguistic diversity) as well as global maps of vegetation and soil carbon and priority areas for biodiversity. Collectively, these areas represent the places where nature contributes to human well-being and economic activity. Our guiding questions are “How much nature do we need to sustain humanity?” and “Where is it located, globally and within countries?” These maps will be used to guide conservation investment and action, for example by informing international commitments made by governments under UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity COP 2020.

My second research theme focuses on rigorously measuring the impacts of conservation interventions on biodiversity and human well-being outcomes in tropical developing countries. I am currently collaborating with Ranaivo Rasolofoson, a postdoctoral associate with the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences at Cornell, to analyze the impacts of the 2009 political crisis on deforestation within community managed forest areas and protected areas in Madagascar. Our more general question is, “which conservation interventions are resilient during times of political crisis?” In general, my goal is to inform conservation investment and decision making by identifying where, and how, conservation interventions can have the greatest benefits for biodiversity and people.

Previous Research:

I have a B.A. in Environmental Biology from Columbia University (2004) and an M.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University (2010). From 2011-2019, I served as Director, Conservation Priority Setting at Conservation International (CI), where I worked to incorporate ecosystem services and human well-being into CI’s geographic priority setting, monitoring and evaluation frameworks. I led mapping of spatial priorities for biodiversity and ecosystem services to guide conservation work in Madagascar, Cambodia, Liberia, Amazonia and the Asia Pacific region. From 2008-2010, I completed an MS degree with Steven Wolf and Richard Stedman in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell, evaluating socioeconomic and ecological implications of large-scale, multi-use working forest land deals in the Adirondacks of New York State and nationally. From 2004-2008 I worked for The Nature Conservancy, conducting ecological assessments of freshwater systems and supporting project teams in systematic planning, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management. I also have experience conducting forest ecology and bird behavioral research in several U.S. states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Oregon), and countries (Costa Rica, Venezuela and Trinidad).

Published Papers

  • Chaplin-Kramer, R., Neugarten, R. A., Gonzalez-Jimenez, D., Ahmadia, G., Baird, T. D., Crane, N., Delgoulet, E., Eyster, H. N., Kurashima, N., Llopis, J. C., Millington, A., Pawlowska-Mainville, A., Rulmal, J., Saunders, F., Shrestha, S., Vaughan, M., Winter, K., Wongbusarakum, S., & Pascual, U. 2023. Transformation for inclusive conservation: evidence on values, decisions, and impacts in protected areas. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101347
  • Willcock, S., Hooftman, D. A. P., Neugarten, R.A., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Barredo, J. I., Hickler, T., Kindermann, G., Lewis, A. R., Lindeskog, M., Martínez-López, J., & Bullock, J. M. (2023). Model ensembles of ecosystem services fill global certainty and capacity gaps. Science Advances, 9(14), eadf5492. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adf5492
  • Neugarten, R.A., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Sharp, R., Schuster, R., Strimas-Mackey, M., Roehrdanz, P., Mulligan, M., Soesbergen, A. van, Hole, D., Kennedy, C., Oakleaf, J., Johnson, J., Kiesecker, J., Polasky, S., Hanson, J., & Rodewald, A. (2023). Mapping the planet’s critical areas for biodiversity and people (Accepted). Nature Communications. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2786809/v1
  • Sarira, T. V., Zeng, Y., Neugarten, R.A., Chaplin-Kramer, R., & Koh, L. P. (2022). Co-benefits of forest carbon projects in Southeast Asia. Nature Sustainability, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00849-0
  • Chaplin-Kramer, R., Neugarten, R.A., Sharp, R. P., Collins, P. M., Polasky, S., Hole, D., Schuster, R., Strimas-Mackey, M., Mulligan, M., Brandon, C., Díaz, S., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Gorenflo, L., Johnson, J. A., Keys, P. W., Longley-Wood, K., McIntyre, P. B., Noon, M., Pascual, U., … Watson, R. (2022). Mapping the planet’s critical natural assets. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01934-5
  • Chaplin-Kramer, R., Brauman, K. A., Cavender-Bares, J., Díaz, S., Duarte, G. T., Enquist, B. J., Garibaldi, L. A., Geldmann, J., Halpern, B. S., Hertel, T. W., Khoury, C. K., Krieger, J. M., Lavorel, S., Mueller, T., Neugarten, R.A., Pinto-Ledezma, J., Polasky, S., Purvis, A., Reyes-García, V., … Zafra-Calvo, N. (2021). Conservation needs to integrate knowledge across scales. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01605-x
  • Brandon, C., Brandon, K., Fairbrass, A., & Neugarten, R. (2021). Integrating Natural Capital into National Accounts: Three Decades of Promise and Challenge. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 15(1), 134–153. https://doi.org/10.1086/713075
  • Chaplin-Kramer, R., Neugarten, R. A., Sharp, R. P., Collins, P. M., Polasky, S., Hole, D., Schuster, R., Strimas-Mackey, M., Mulligan, M., Brandon, C., Díaz, S., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Gorenflo, L., Johnson, J. A., Keys, P. W., Longley-Wood, K., McIntyre, P. B., Noon, M., Pascual, U., … Watson, R. (In prep). Global critical natural assets. BioRxiv, 2020.11.08.361014. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.08.361014
  • Palliwoda, J., Fischer, J., Felipe-Lucia, M. R., Palomo, I., Neugarten, R. A., Büermann, A., Price, M. F., Torralba, M., Eigenbrod, F., Mitchell, M. G. E., Beckmann, M., Seppelt, R., & Schröter, M. (2021). Ecosystem service coproduction across the zones of biosphere reserves in Europe. Ecosystems and People, 17(1), 491–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2021.1968501
  • Neugarten, R. A., Moull, K., Martinez, N. A., Andriamaro, L., Bernard, C., Bonham, C., Cano, C. A., Ceotto, P., Cutter, P., Farrell, T. A., Gibb, M., Goedschalk, J., Hole, D., Honzák, M., Kasecker, T., Koenig, K., Larsen, T. H., Ledezma, J. C., McKinnon, M., … Turner, W. (2020). Trends in protected area representation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in five tropical countries. Ecosystem Services, 42, 101078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101078
  • Neugarten, R. A., Langhammer, P. F., Osipova, E., Bagstad, K. J., Bhagabati, N., Butchart, S. H. M., Dudley, N., Elliott, V., Gerber, L. R., Gutierrez Arrellano, C., Ivanić, K.-Z., Kettunen, M., Mandle, L., Merriman, J. C., Mulligan, M., Peh, K. S.-H., Raudsepp-Hearne, C., Semmens, D. J., Stolton, S., & Willcock, S. (2018). Tools for measuring, modelling, and valuing ecosystem services: Guidance for Key Biodiversity Areas, natural World Heritage sites, and protected areas (C. Groves, Ed.; 1st ed.). IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2018.PAG.28.en
  • Neugarten, R. A., Honzák, M., Carret, P., Koenig, K., Andriamaro, L., Cano, C. A., Grantham, H. S., Hole, D., Juhn, D., McKinnon, M., Rasolohery, A., Steininger, M., Wright, T. M., & Turner, W. R. (2016). Rapid Assessment of Ecosystem Service Co-Benefits of Biodiversity Priority Areas in Madagascar. PLOS ONE, 11(12), e0168575. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168575
  • Sáenz, L., Farrell, T., Olsson, A., Turner, W., Mulligan, M., Acero, N., Neugarten, R. A., Wright, M., McKinnon, M., Ruiz, C., & Guerrero, J. (2016). Mapping potential freshwater services, and their representation within Protected Areas (PAs), under conditions of sparse data. Pilot implementation for Cambodia. Global Ecology and Conservation, 7, 107–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2016.05.007
  • Neugarten, R. A., Wolf, S. A., & Stedman, R. C. (2012). Forest Fights and Forest Rights: Working Forests as a Strategy for Reducing Tensions in New York State. Society & Natural Resources, 25(12), 1205–1220. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2012.669819
  • Neugarten, R. A., Wolf, S. A., Stedman, R. C., & Tear, T. H. (2011). Integrating Ecological and Socioeconomic Monitoring of Working Forests. BioScience, 61(8), 631–637. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.8.10
  • Mcdonald, R. I., Forman, R. T. T., Kareiva, P., Neugarten, R. A., Salzer, D., & Fisher, J. (2009). Urban effects, distance, and protected areas in an urbanizing world. Landscape and Urban Planning, 93(1), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2009.06.002
  • Salafsky, N., Butchart, S. H. M., Salzer, D., Stattersfield, A. J., Neugarten, R. A., Hilton-Taylor, C., Collen, B., Master, L. L., O’Connor, S., & Wilkie, D. (2009). Pragmatism and Practice in Classifying Threats: Reply to Balmford et al. Conservation Biology, 23(2), 488–493. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01197.x
  • Salafsky, N., Salzer, D., Stattersfield, A. J., Hilton-Taylor, C., Neugarten, R. A., Butchart, S. H. M., Collen, B., Cox, N., Master, L. L., O’Connor, S., & Wilkie, D. (2008). A standard lexicon for biodiversity conservation: Unified classifications of threats and actions. Conservation Biology, 22(4), 897–911. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00937.x
  • Turner, W.R., R.A. Mittermeier, J. Marton-Lefèvre, S.N. Stuart, J. Smart, and R.A. Neugarten. 2012. Ecosystem Services: Accounting for the benefits that nature provides to humanity. In Environment and Development Challenges: The Imperative to Act. Asahi Glass Foundation Blue Planet Prize, Tokyo.

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Rachel Neugarten