Courses and Timeline

This hybrid course is focused on providing students from different course-based master’s (CBM) programs (MGEM, MSFM, MUFL, and MIF) with epistemological agility. Evidence shows there is a lack of sufficiently effective communication skills among early career graduating professionals to speak to diverse audiences. This course will provide applied opportunities for students to engage in and hone their cross-boundary communication skills. Bringing all the CBM students together will provide opportunities for students to communicate with people and stakeholder groups outside of their topical niche. Students will practice professional communication skills demanded of individuals, and as part of diverse teams, in the field of forestry. This course aims to have students identify audiences, core messages, positionality and practice communicating through diverse media.

This hybrid course aims to enhance the awareness of diverse knowledge systems (including western scientific, local, Indigenous) and their implications for decision-making and policy among students in the Faculty of Forestry’s four course-based master’s programs (MGEM, MSFM, MUFL, and MIF). It addresses power dynamics between these knowledge systems and introduces strategies for equitable co-production of environmental management decisions. The course emphasizes the need to confront and navigate different worldviews, ethical practices, and norms related to credible knowledge within systems marked by power imbalances.

CBM students will have practical opportunities to engage with and discuss these issues through individual and group activities. This collaborative approach will foster communication with peers from varied knowledge backgrounds, promoting the development of professional skills and the ability to work effectively in diverse teams.

Explore social-ecological factors constraining the conservation of forests and protected areas. Understanding the critical links between tropical landscapes and livelihoods in a conservation and development context. Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to understand the link between conservation and development and explore trade-offs between poverty alleviation, human health, forest-related diseases, climate change, etc. The concept of landscape approaches and the use of various visualization techniques will be emphasized. Special attention will be given to different visions and perceptions of livelihoods amongst different people in tropical and sub-tropical countries, where the majority of forest-dependent people live. Examples will be given through hands-on experience with a variety of participatory approaches to livelihood studies. Case studies from Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be discussed. Issues discussed will include multi-stakeholder processes, theories of change, actor-network analysis, etc.

An introduction to the history and evolution of social, community and Indigenous forestry and their influence on and engagements with mainstream institutions, including industrial forestry. Students will learn about and analyze Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ (IPLC) relationships with customary, ancestral, and/or local territories and the cultural and spiritual values that have persisted and evolved over the centuries. We will review community forestry case studies against the elements of good governance at different scales. Students will also consider variations of community forestry, including Joint Forest Management (JFM) and co-operatives. Students will also explore the growing recognition of and safeguards for community forestry, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) at sub-national (provincial or state), national and international levels.

Students will gain understanding and appreciation of the local-to-international, and vice versa, processes for Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) to forests and forest products, including in voluntary, independent, third-party forest certification schemes. Each student will apply the lessons learned to required writing assignments, including their analysis of one case study of community forestry. The aim is to stimulate creative thinking about the evolution and promise of community forestry, and the networks of governmental and non-governmental institutions, including commercial operations, with which they interact globally. This course will enable students to evaluate the constraints faced by community forestry, and the challenges, barriers, and opportunities opened for them by (re)engagement in forestry practices and commercially-profitable forestry.

Natural resource planning has traditionally focused on a single sector – forests are primarily managed for sustainable timber, ecosystem services (e.g., clean water, carbon storage, biodiversity) and other economic products; agricultural lands are managed for crop yields; freshwater aquatic systems are managed for water provision and fisheries. But, landscapes are multifunctional and interactions between systems are common; for example, the greatest cause of deforestation globally is clearance for agriculture. Yet many rural people depend simultaneously on the interaction between forests and agriculture for their livelihoods, health, food security, and nutrition. Indeed much of the world’s food originates in complex and diverse landscape mosaics. Managing forestry, agriculture, and livelihoods in an integrated fashion is thus critical.

Taking into account the contribution of forests and other systems, this course will be underpinned by an integrated landscape approach to natural resources planning and will pay close reference to global policy processes such as the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). This approach represents a broad systems framework that can integrate agriculture, the natural environment, different livelihood systems, and social interactions towards a global sustainable development strategy.

Learn and apply basic economic principles across a wide range of forest-based good and environmental services, and learn about cutting-edge environmental finance topics.

Provides a thorough understanding of forest-based businesses and business processes by reviewing the principles of management, financial, and marketing management that are most applicable to forest-based enterprises.

Exploring the interconnected nature of political, social, and economic systems as they relate to natural resources. The course will focus on recent developments in forest governance and the issues that they raise in terms of rights to resources, sustainability, and economic performance. The numerous international initiatives to develop better forest governance models will be debated and their merits assessed. The concept of linked social-ecological systems will be examined. Students will undertake assignments on significant issues and publications and present them to the class.

Examine contemporary forestry issues, the principles of international diplomacy, and the principles of negotiating international agreements and conventions related to forests as well as international organizations addressing forestry issues.

Presents contemporary and emerging topics relevant to international forestry. The format will vary throughout the year in order to capitalize on the schedules of international visitors to UBC and will include a panel presentation, lectures, and professional development seminars.

FRST 526 is an integral part of your program of study and is required for graduation. In close collaboration with the course instructor, UBC faculty, and our global contacts, each student will work to secure and complete a placement, directed study, or project aligned with their career goals and aspirations. Students work on their placement project proposal during Winter Session Term 1, with the goal of securing a placement and finalizing their project proposal early in Winter Session Term 2. Field-based placements or projects will last ~6-12 weeks and can be in Canada or international.