The forest plays a decisive role in terms of its potential contribution to the dimensions of sustainability and the frameworks created by climate change and global warming. In fact, the forest is an important carbon sink, thus contributing to mitigating the environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, economic activities that can be carried out on forest lands bring income to landowners and generate employment for communities. However, temperature change (increased forest fire risks), urban sprawl, economic pressures, land abandonment and road and rail networks, for example, create new challenges to forest resources. On the other hand, taking into account the particularities of these resources, their economic potential is often ignored or not properly addressed by stakeholders. These contexts require innovative approaches to forest resource management, where better planning and more efficient management can be key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
This Special Issue on “Forest Resources Management” for the Journal Sustainability is intended to be a relevant contribution, bringing new insights to discussions related to forest planning and added value for sustainability. Specifically, this Special Issue addresses the following topics: plans for more sustainable forest management; interrelationships with agricultural planning; potential of forest resources for the production of ecosystem services and public goods; forest fire risk mitigation; policies to promote the circular economy and renewable energy.
Considering these topics, this Special Issue received several submissions and published seven papers, five articles and two reviews. The articles focused on the following issues: forest resources in Northern Pakistan, assessing perspectives on forest management techniques and sustainability []; importance of forest products to rural contexts in South Africa, analyzing the contributions of natural products to households []; parameters of Korean Pine in Northeastern China to select high-yield wood materials []; assessment of the impacts of forest fires on vegetation recovery using new technologies []; and forest management and sustainability in the European Union []. The reviews highlighted the ecological dimensions of the forest to assess the evolution of vegetation [] and agri-food frameworks in Mediterranean geographies [].
In conclusion, this Special Issue on “Forest Resources Management” in the Journal Sustainability provides new and relevant insights that can be considered by various stakeholders, including public institutions and policymakers.
Funding
This work is funded by National Funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the project Refª UIDB/00681/2020.
Acknowledgments
Furthermore we would like to thank the CERNAS Research Centre and the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu for their support. Author also wants to acknowledge the important work of the MDPI staff and of anonymous reviewers.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
References
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