Isabelle Anguelovski, selected by the U.S. government for the First National Nature Assessment

Isabelle Anguelovski, researcher at the Instituteof Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), in Span, is one of the authors selected for the first-ever National Nature Assessment (NNA1). The U.S. Global Change Research Program announced the selection of authors who will contribute to the drafting of this document, which aims to shed light on the current challenges posed by climate change and nature loss.

To better understand the full picture of what is happening with nature, the NNA1 will provide a holistic picture of America’s lands, waters, wildlife, and ecosystems and the benefits they provide to the economy, health, climate, environmental justice, and national security. The Assessment will also look ahead at how nature might change in the future, and what those changes may mean for our economy and people’s lives.

The diverse team that will number over 150 experts was selected by the 11 leaders of the chapters in consultation with federal leadership, and they come to NNA1 from a range of organizations across the United States —from universities to federal, and state government, national laboratories, businesses, and nonprofits.

Isabelle Anguelovski will be participating in the chapter on Nature and Equity, led by Chris Schell, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Together with the other authors, they will bring deep experience and expertise in fields like ecology, health, economics, nature-based solutions, urban systems, environmental justice, agriculture, engineering, and much more. The author team also includes Indigenous Knowledge holders with place-based knowledge reflecting local experiences with nature.

Over the next two years, NNA1 authors will take stock of what nature provides in terms of its inherent worth, culture, health, and well-being, jobs and livelihoods, safety, and more, while looking ahead to understand how these benefits might change in the future. The final report is expected in late 2026.

Isabelle Anguelovski is an ICREA Research Professor at ICTA-UAB. She obtained a PhD in Urban Studies and Planning from MIT before returning to Europe in 2011 with a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship. Her research examines the extent to which urban plans and policy decisions contribute to more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, and how community groups in distressed neighborhoods contest the existence, creation, or exacerbation of environmental inequities as a result of urban (re)development processes and policies. Between 2016 and 2022, she was the leader of GreenLULUs, an ERC-funded project which examined green inequalities in 40 cities in Europe, the US, and Canada and she now coordinates a new POC ERC, ClimateJusticeRead, on predicting and preventing green gentrification.