Rudolph DeGroot dolf.degroot@wur.nl University of Wageningen Relationship with MIMES: Collaborator Contact: Wageningen University |
 |
(Ru)dolf de Groot (PhD Environmental Sciences-Wageningen University, MSc Biology - Landscape Ecology-Utrecht University (Cum Laude) is Associate Professor and Leader of the Research Program on Integrated Environmental Assessment in Regional Planning and Management with the Environmental Systems Analysis Group, Wageningen University (www.dow.wur.nl/esa). From 1999 - 2004, he also worked at the International Centre for Integrative Studies (ICIS), Maastricht University (www.icis.unimaas.nl) as co-leader of the Program on Integrated Assessment of environment-economy interactions. Both institutes take part in the National Research School on Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE) and aim to develop methods and tools for Integrated Assessment of complex environmental issues.
An important research area of Dolf de Groot is integrated assessment and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. In 1992 he published a book on this topic (“Functions of Nature”) and in 1997 he was co-author of a much cited publication in ‘Nature’ with Costanza et al., on the “Total Value of the World´s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital”. He is currently involved with the Costanza-group in a US-NSF-funded project on “The dynamics and value of ecosystem services: integrating economic and ecological perspectives”, and many other related projects.
Another important research interest deals with global change issues, especially the effects of climate change on natural ecosystems and biodiversity. In 1989 he was co-organiser of an international conference on Landscape Ecological Impacts of Climate Change and since then has been involved in many research programs on interactions between Climate Change, Land use and Ecosystems and was one of the initiators of the Climate Change and Biosphere (CCB) Research Centre (www.wageningen-ur.nl/ccb). Dolf de Groot published over 100 scientific publications, including 2 books, and has been, and is involved (as senior researcher and project leader) in many national and EU-funded projects on integrated assessment of interactions between climate change, land use (change) and ecosystem values.
He is an active member of several national and international organisations, including the World Conservation Union-IUCN and the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE). He is a member of the Steering Committee of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM), and Global Theme Leader on Ecosystem Services (www.iucn.org). He is on the advisory board of the Guiana Shield Initiative (www.guianashield.org), chairman of the Foundation for Sustainable Development (www.fsd.nl) and founder of the Network for Nature Valuation and Financing (www.naturevaluation.org). From 1998-2001 he was a member of the Dutch IGBP-Commission on Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) of the Royal Academy of Sciences. From March 2002 – March 2005 he was one of the Coordinating Lead Authors of the ‘Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (www.MAweb.org) and is currently involved in the CGIAR Assessment of Water Management and Agriculture. Dolf de Groot is a member of various Editorial Boards (eg "Regional Environmental Change" (Springer) and “Biodiversity Science and Management” (Sapiens Publ.)).
