Michael Jensen has travelled throughout Southeast Asia since 1984. He graduated from the Faculty of Science at Copenhagen University in 1990 as a biologist specialising in forest ecology and nutrient fluxes in ecosystems, particularly in the tropics. After graduation, he worked in research projects in northern Sweden investigating possible effects of climatic change on arctic ecosystems. From 1992 until 1996 he was employed as an agroforestry expert in the forestrysection of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, stationed at their Southeast Asia office. He joined the botanical part of the 'Fire in tropical Ecosystems' programme in 1996, working on fire effects on savannah ecosystems in western Ethiopia as part of his PhD programme, and defended his thesis successfully in November 1999.