 Growing up in Sweden I thought of the forest as a place to hike and hunt, a place to collect firewood and berries, and to harvest timber that we use to build our houses. In the 1980s, when I was studying forestry at university, we still saw our forests primarily as a source of timber. But then scientists began finding evidence of climate change and how forests mitigate that climate change by absorbing and storing carbon. And there's more. They're also an important home to biodiversity. They provide food and income to millions of people around the world, and they collect and filter rainwater used to irrigate farmland as well as to supply villages and cities. We know all this, and yet more than 5 million hectares of forest are being lost each year. In today's world, where the competition for land and our demand for food has never been higher, what policymakers need is watertight research. And that's where we come in. CIFOR's global team of scientists are researching every aspect of forestry and landscapes, by providing evidence of the contribution of forests to humanity. I'm Daniel Murdi Erso. I am a CIFOR scientist. I became interested in forestry growing up in a very poor forest community here in Indonesia. I began researching mangrove forests in 2010. We spent several months climbing through this mangrove, taking measurements, collecting samples for analysis in the lab. It was worth it. We discovered that mangrove stores four times the amount of carbon stored in other types of tropical forests. Of course, they also protect coastlines and provide food security. When we made this discovery, half of the world's mangroves had already been cut down. So it was critical that our research reached the right people as soon as possible. So my team worked with our communication team to get the message across to policymakers, scientists, NGOs, and through the media to the general public. All of this work to get the mangroves onto the global climate change agenda finally seems to be paying off. I'm Amy Dushel and I'm a CIFOR scientist. As a 19-year-old biology student, I traveled to the Amazon to study tropical ecology. I realized then that these forests were home to extraordinary biological and cultural richness, but that they were also being threatened by multiple interests, such as unsustainable logging and cattle ranching. That's when I knew that this is what I would be doing. I'm now heading up a team of regional researchers looking at the impacts of climate change mitigation programs on Amazonian populations who make a living from the forest and the surrounding landscape. We're looking at the ways local governments and NGOs are using incentives and disincentives to persuade communities to use the forest more sustainably and analyzing which interventions are working best for both people and forests. We'll share this concrete data with regional and national governments, helping them to make informed decisions that should work better for everyone. It's hoped that CIFOR's research, both in the Amazon and elsewhere, is informing people and governments to manage landscapes in a more holistic way, where social, economic and environmental objectives can be achieved. My name is Philippien Kangoum. I'm a political scientist based in the Central African Regional Office. I'm a research fellow. I'm a legal logging and forest certification. My name is Ted. With more than 200 scientists across the tropics and the largest body of global forestry research, CIFOR provides decision makers with evidence, evidence that they can use to improve the lives of people, safeguard the environment and ensure healthy forests for future generations.