The SFIAR network, the Swiss Forum of International Agricultural Research, is a platform, which was launched at the ministerial at the ministerial conference on international agricultural research in Lucerne in 1995. In the context of the Swiss Session at the Tropentag 2010, the SFIAR gave an award for outstanding scientific work. The award carries a value of Sfr 5000.- The winner of this year was Dr. Lian Pin Koh. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with degrees in Bachelor and Master of Science, and from Princeton University with a Doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Currently he is a Senior Research Fellow at ETH Zurich. Lian Pin's main interests lie in basic and applied ecology, as well as environmental science and policy. Lian Pin Koh got the award for his project “A spatially-explicit scenario analysis for reconciling agricultural expansion, forest protection, and carbon conservation in Indonesia". As the world is facing huge challenges because of the increasing need for food and energy, which conflict with each others, there is a need for science based tools to visualize different scenarios and their benefits and losses for society and environment. The scenario of Lian Pin Koh shows, how to channel all of society's priorities in palm oil production in Indonesia. The paper is available at his website www.lianpinkoh.com .