The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies prepares new leadership and creates new knowledge to sustain and restore the long-term health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people.



We recognize that environmental challenges are increasingly international and seek to build a truly global school of the environment.



We believe that the human enterprise can and must be conducted in harmony with the environment, using natural resources in ways that sustain both resources and ourselves.



We believe that solving environmental problems must incorporate human values and motivations and a deep respect for both human and natural communities.



We seek to integrate concern for Earth’s ecosystems with equal concern for social equity.



We believe that a school of the environment must also be a school of sustainable development.



We find strength in our collegiality, diversity, independence, and commitment to excellence.



We educate women and men to guide human activity at the local, national, and global levels with a comprehensive understanding of the environmental, economic and social effects of their choices.



We create new knowledge in the science of sustainability and new methods of applying that knowledge to the challenge of environmental management, the restoration of degraded environments, and the pursuit of sustainable development.



We collaborate with all sectors of society to achieve fair and effective solutions to environmental problems.



For 100 years, first as a pioneering school of forestry, Yale has marshaled the expertise of diverse disciplines in the service of responsible stewardship of the environment. As the world’s population grows and development accelerates, conserving the beauty, diversity, and integrity of the natural world becomes at once more important and more challenging.



We reaffirm our belief that such conservation is a practical and moral imperative.