A class stands along the edge of a stream in a wooded area of trees with green leaves and buds.

Natural Resources and the Environment

Our vision

The Department of Natural Resources and the Environment is a world leader in scholarship addressing social and ecological dimensions of natural resources and the environment to improve environmental sustainability, promote the well-being of communities, and ensure access to sustainable energy and environmental resources.

What we work on

We create knowledge and facilitate learning to improve society’s stewardship of the environment and promote a conservation ethos for a sustainable planet.

People standing in a river spearing fish
Aquatic and Fisheries Ecology and Management
Three researchers with mountains in the background
Climate and Energy
A multi-plot garden with crops and shed in the foreground, with a blue sky and the tops of buildings of New York City off in the distance.
Conservation Social Sciences and Policy
Three researchers look into the distance through binoculars.
International Conservation
Three white terns fly in a group against a bright blue sky.
Terrestrial and Wildlife Ecology and Management

Commitment to diversity and inclusion

We are a diverse department of researchers, educators, students and staff that seek science-based solutions to environmental problems and sustainable natural resource management. In our research, teaching and outreach, we recognize that the acknowledgement and respect of all stakeholders’ perspectives is essential for achieving just and sustainable solutions to today’s environmental problems.

Read more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

News

Ivy on Bradfield Hall

News

Four faculty to receive Carpenter Advising Awards

Four Cornell faculty members have received Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Awards, which recognize sustained and distinguished contributions of professorial faculty and senior lecturers to undergraduate advising.

  • Microbiology
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
A boy holds a large fish.

News

Amazon River freshwater fish show signs of overexploitation

As the cherished rainforest in South America’s Amazon River region continues to shrink, the river itself now presents evidence of other dangers: the overexploitation of freshwater fish.

  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
A man walks in the woods.

News

Finger Lakes Land Trust, once a master’s project, conserves 28K acres

Alumnus Andy Zepp started the Finger Lakes Land Trust one night in a Fernow Hall lecture hall. Now executive director, he’s preserving the region’s iconic landscapes one acre at a time.

  • Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Environment
  • Nature
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