Originally published on 1 June 2010, during this podcast, Tarun Bathija interviews Michael Kleine (IUFRO-SPDC Project Coordinator) to get a better understanding of the International Union of Forest Research Organization's - Special Program for Developing Countries.  The mission of the Special Programme for Developing Countries (in short IUFRO-SPDC) is to expand and foster forest research capacity in developing and economically disadvantaged countries.  According to the programme's strategy for 2007 to 2010 the IUFRO-SPDC activities cover the  following five priority areas: 

• Enhancing core scientific competence
• Improving information management and dissemination
• Enhancing science contribution to policy processes
• Promoting communication and multi-stakeholder learning processes
• Providing institutional support to regional forest research networks