The Nature Relationship Index (NRI)
The Nature Relationship Index (NRI) redefines national progress to include mutually beneficial relationships among people and the rest of life on Earth.
The conceptual foundations of the NRI were published June 26, 2025 in Nature as An Aspirational Approach to Planetary Futures.
The NRI is inspired by the Human Development Index (HDI) of the UNDP’s Human Development Report Office (HDRO).
The NRI is now being developed toward its potential release in the 2026 Human Development Report.
Like the HDI, the NRI measures national relationships with nature in terms of three dimensions:
| Nature is Thriving and Accessible | How much environments where people and nature thrive are available and accessible. |
| Nature is Used with Care | The degree to which societies use nature to sustain their development in ways that do not pollute, diminish, degrade, or harm the living world. |
| Nature is Safeguarded | How much societies are spending on and legally supporting efforts to make the living world safer, cleaner, and healthier for people and the rest of life. |
The three dimensions of the NRI offer a new way to measure and motivate progress towards a future where people and nature thrive together.
For more information and updates, please visit:
Nature Relationship Index (NRI) at the UNDP-HDRO
Anthroecology Lab director Erle Ellis helped to lead the collaboration that produced the NRI approach and is contributing to ongoing work by the HDRO to develop the NRI towards its public release.
Read the “A New Way to Measure Progress”, at right, to learn more about the Nature perspective that introduces the NRI, including powerpoint slides, news items, and videos:
