Erika Næsset was awarded the prize for his path breaking research that incorporates the airborne laser scanning method as an integral part of forest inventory.Sustainable forest management is based on good information about the resource and its biological and social environment, collected through various inventory methods. Erik Næsset has invented a straightforward and practical method for utilizing airborne laser scanning in combination with forest field data, which automatically produces stand-wise forest data with high accuracy.The area based method of airborne laser scanning that Næsset has developed has become a reference against which new inventory methods are compared.“Laser scanning is now a commercially used practice, making a considerable difference in how forests are inventoried throughout the world. It is also useful in assessment of many other forest ecosystem services, such as for detection and valuation of habitats of key species for maintenance of biodiversity. Professor Næsset stands out as the most important person for making airborne laser scanning an operational method for forest inventory,” said Marcus Wallenberg, Chairman of the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, at the award ceremony. /AA