Forests are sources of wood, food, and other non-timber forest products. They provide multiple ecosystem services including carbon sink and storage, habitats for biodiversity, preservation of soils, regulation of hydrological cycles, and micro-and regional climates. Deforestation is the largest single anthropogenic transformation of natural ecosystems, with large impacts on all these goods and services. Concern about forests and deforestation has long been framed through the issue of sustaining timber resources. Starting in the 1980s, loss and preservation of biodiversity in tropical forests became a dominant topic in the public debate. More recently, the role of forests in climate regulation, and deforestation as a source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, has been emphasized.