The Office of Management and Budget today announced that it is seeking nominations by Thursday, June 15 of experts interested in serving on an independent scientific peer review of forthcoming guidance for assessing changes in environmental and ecosystem services in benefit-cost analysis.
The forthcoming guidance is being developed pursuant to the Apr. 2022 Executive Order on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, which among other things directed OMB to issue guidance related to the valuation of ecosystem and environmental services and natural assets in federal regulatory decision-making. The recently announced National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions to value natural capital and incorporate such valuation in regulatory decision-making notes that it supports the Apr. 2022 Executive Order directive.
The OMB request for 4-6 experts notes that OMB is currently drafting the guidance and will solicit public comments on it. In addition, OMB states that the guidance will be subject to an independent, external scientific peer review managed by an OMB contractor.
Nominations are specifically sought from individuals with expertise in ecosystem services and natural assets, with perspectives sought in areas including relevant natural science, systems science, applied science, and environmental and resource economics.
