How can we create a sustainable future that protects and responsibly utilizes our tropical rain forests, drinking water, clean air, biodiversity, sustainable fisheries, endangered species, and other natural assets while improving and maintaining standards of living? National and global environmental issues are one of the central challenges we face in the twenty-first century, and we need leaders who are able to listen carefully to all stakeholders, analyze and explain the economic costs and benefits, and help develop solutions that support economic and environmental goals. Environmental leadership is about balance.
The Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics offers an interdisciplinary curriculum with a variety of courses in the natural sciences and economics. Our faculty are experts in the field who are recognized for pioneering academic research and their contributions to the formulation of major regional, national and international policies.
News
How do you define local food? URI researchers surveying Rhode Islanders on local food supply and demand - A new project led by Simona Trandafir, associate professor in URI’s Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, will map how food moves through Rhode Island by tracing production and distribution networks from farms to buyers and linking them to where consumers shop.
Bridging business, economics, and sustainability - Through applied coursework, close faculty mentorship, and interdisciplinary study, Anna Geubtner ’26 found a path in environmental economics that connects economic theory with real-world environmental challenges.
URI Ph.D. candidate selected for prestigious NOAA fellowship - Research focused on ethical and sustainable seafood markets earns Aida Pauls a spot in the competitive NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship