Daniel Murdiyarso is a Principal Scientist, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). He received his first degree in Forestry from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia. His PhD was obtained from the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK. He is a Professor at the Department of Geophysics and Meteorology, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia. His research works are related to land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions. In the past decade he has dedicated most of his effort to work in carbon-rich wetland ecosystems, particularly peatlands and mangroves and their roles in climate change adaptation and mitigation. He has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Murdiyarso has served in a number of Nobel Prize winning IPCC as Convening Lead Author of Reports, including the IPCC Third Assessment Report; the IPCC Special Report on Land-use, Land-use Change and Forestry; and the 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines on GHG Inventory: Wetlands.
Since 2002 Professor Murdiyarso is a member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences and chairs its Basic Science Commission. In 2000 he served the Government of Indonesia as Deputy Minister of Environment for two years, during which he was also the National Focal Point of the UNFCCC and CBD.