 Imagine you live in a part of the world where you have to collect firewood before you can cook for your family. And imagine that collecting firewood means you must walk for several hours a week because the firewood sources near your village have been depleted. And this puts you at risk of robbery, rape or injury. Is this an environmental problem, a health issue, a development problem, or all three? These are the types of issues that we will explore in this course. Hi, my name is Dr. Jolene Timcoe and I'm a research associate in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. And I'm the managing director of AFRICAD, the Africa Forest Research Initiative on Conservation and Development. In this course, we'll cover a range of fascinating and current topics that are playing out right now at the Poverty Forest Interface. Because forestry is not just about forests. It's about the endless interactions that occur when people use forests in their daily lives. Did you know that two billion people, one third of the earth's population, use biomass fuels, mainly firewood, to cook and heat their homes and billions more rely on traditional medicines harvested from the forest? This is a university level course that aims to teach ordinary people about the depths to which citizens in developing countries depend on forests. We'll talk about the role of forests for medicines and wild foods, as sources of fuel wood and charcoal for energy, the interactions between forests and diseases such as HIV, AIDS and malaria, as well as community forestry and how people can be involved in managing their forest resources. We'll also look at the amazing contribution of agroforestry. This combination of trees on farms or farms in forests can improve soil fertility, increase crop yields, sequester carbon and provide food, fuel, feed and fodder. We'll also talk about the impacts that small and medium forest enterprises and innovations such as improved firewood stoves can make on people's livelihoods. I expect that you the learners will help to identify potential research gaps through your active participation in the course discussion forum. We'll also have featured guests and guest lecturers from people within UBC's Faculty of Forestry. I expect these people will also identify the key research gaps in their research domain. For those of you who are developing country nationals, you may have lived much of what we'll talk about and you may be able to offer your perspectives and experiences to deepen our understanding of the course material. If you're not from a developing country, you'll gain a much better appreciation for the multitude of ways that people in developing countries use forest resources as well as the pressing research needs in this domain.