The direct relationship between responsible use, conservation, and scientific knowledge was the consensus among representatives of governments and research institutions who were present at the opening ceremony of the 25th World Congress of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO2019), in Curitiba, Brazil. This recognition was expressed by awards given to ten scientists for their internationally relevant work, and another four Brazilian researchers for their contributions to forest research in the country during the opening session of the congress.

The foreign winners were selected by the congress’s scientific committee, while the Brazilian scientists were chosen by polling among the forest public. "We presented a list of 20 names who conducted important and recognized work, and people and institutions in the sector chose the four winners," said Yeda Maria Malheiros, a researcher from Embrapa Florestas and one of coordinators of the event.

The following Brazilians were honored for their research in areas such as forest inventories, forest management and conservation, planting forests, and forestry practices: Sebastião do Amaral Machado of the Federal University of Paraná, José Natalino Macedo Silva of the Federal Rural University of Amazonia, Celso Foelkel of the Federal University of Santa Maria, and Maria José Zakia of São Paulo State University.

The scientists from international institutions were recognized for their work on topics ranging from developing methodologies for carbon accounting, changes in land use, inventory and environmental modeling, research on food and forests, the importance of urban trees, and methodologies for assessing growth of trees for conservation and sustainable use: Ellen Macdonald (Canada), José Leonard de Moraes Gonçalves (Brazil), David Nowak (US), Elena Paoletti (Italy), Marielos Peña-Claros (Holland/Bolivia), Terry Sunderland (Canada/Indonesia), Margarida Tomé (Portugal), Daowei Zhang (US/China), Junyong Zho (US/China), and Maria Nijnik (UK).

IUFRO 2019, by the numbers
The congress included five plenary sessions with world-renowned speakers, 20 sub-plenary sessions, 190 oral and poster sessions highlighting over 4,000 technical projects, and 15 technical tours, in addition to 30 side events and meetings. The programming spanned five strategic themes: "Forests for People,” "Forests and Climate Change,” "Forests and Forest Products for a Greener Future," "Biodiversity, Environmental Services and Invasive Species,” and "Forests, Interaction with the Soil and Water."