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Efforts to naturally remove atmospheric CO2 demand that largely intact forests be maintained. Our inter-cultural research initiative tested the hypothesis that Indigenous custody of the land is compatible with the maintenance of intact forests. Here we combined traditional knowledge, phytolith analysis, remote sensing, and tree inventories to study old-growth forests in Panama's Darién. Phytoliths served to elucidate historical vegetation, remote sensing revealed the current and past Indigenous footprints while tree stature and identity characterised the forest. Until now there has been very little to no human impact within these forests and current Indigenous footprint is both small and stable. Large trees accounted for 13% of trees in the plots that we established. For over half of the species, the measured tree height was taller than previously published maximum heights, leading us to conclude that these forests are a truly exceptional ecological refugium. Noting that the local communities are not rewarded for their custody of these exceptional forests we call to revisit the Good Practice Guidance for Land Use Land Use Change and Forestry to include intact forest land. In the context of sub-optimal carbon finance options, we also propose matching as a methodology that could prove additionality of forest conservation initiatives in climate mitigation portfolios.

This paper provides a comparison of current visions, missions and strategies of three international forest research organizations: European Forest Institute (EFI), Center for International Forest Research (CIFOR) and International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). Against the background of theoretical conceptions of visions, missions and strategies, a qualitative tabular content analysis is applied. A special focus lies on the thematic work areas of the organizations and their connection to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Visions and missions provide an important guidance for employees and other people in the organization, but also for communication to outsiders. Within strategies, Non-Profit Organizations can define their mission and vision as well as strategic goals. Recent missions and visions of EFI, CIFOR and IUFRO are analyzed with a textual analysis, while for their strategies a summarizing content analysis is used. The comparison discloses differences between the three organizations with regard to their orientation towards societal impact and/or advancement of science. However, all of them strive for improving living conditions for people. CIFOR clearly focuses on the SDGs and covers all of them, while IUFRO and EFI do this only partially. Except for doublings, EFI and IUFRO together address 12 SDGs out of 17 SDGs. This finding is especially important in the light of the current cooperation between EFI and IUFRO. Both organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2019, where they claim to account for achieving the SDGs by strengthening the role of forest conservation and sustainable forest management.