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Lydia Olander

Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Sciences and Policy Division
Environmental Sciences and Policy
Box 90335, Durham, NC 27708-0328
2117 Campus Drive, Rm 212, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Lydia Olander is a program director at the Nicholas Institute for Energy Environment & Sustainability at Duke University and adjunct professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment. She works on improving evidence-based policy and accelerating implementation of climate resilience, nature-based solutions, natural capital accounting, and environmental markets. She leads the National Ecosystem Services Partnership and sits on Duke’s Climate Commitment action team. She recently spent two years with the Biden administration at the Council on Environmental Quality as Director of Nature based Resilience and before that spent five years on the Environmental Advisory Board for the US Army Corps of Engineers. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and widely published researcher. Prior to joining the Nicholas Institute, she spent a year as an AAAS Congressional Science and Technology Fellow working with Senator Joseph Lieberman on environmental and energy issues. She was a college scholar at Cornell University and earned her Master of Forest Science from Yale University and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Sciences and Policy Division · 2020 - Present Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment
Area Director of the Ecosystem Services Program in the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability · 2013 - Present Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, University Institutes and Centers

In the News


Published January 22, 2025
When a Disaster Hits Home
Published October 25, 2024
Individuals and Groups Collect 19 Climate and Sustainability Awards
Published August 28, 2024
In Flood-Prone Parts of North Carolina, Climate Adaptation Meets the Data Gap

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Recent Publications


Advancing consistent socio-economic monitoring of coastal ecosystem restoration through collaborative metric development

Journal Article Communications Earth and Environment · December 1, 2024 Ecological restoration programs increasingly aim to provide socio-economic and environmental benefits. However, monitoring of socio-economic outcomes of these programs lags behind monitoring of ecological outcomes. Socio-economic methods are less establish ... Full text Cite

Evaluation of Publicly Accessible Nature-Based Solutions Databases as Sources for Evidence of Effectiveness

Report · July 24, 2024 Nature-based solutions (NBS) are “actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems to address societal challenges, simultaneously providing benefits for people and the environment” (White House Council on Environmental Qual ... Open Access Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


Hosting the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by North Carolina State University · 2023 - 2028

Model-based Tracking and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services (MoTIVES) for Military Base Land-Use and Land-Management Decisions

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by Strategic Environmental Research & Development Program · 2022 - 2027

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Education, Training & Certifications


Stanford University · 2002 Ph.D.