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The Theory and Practice of Realizing the Value of Forest...
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The Theory and Practice of Realizing the Value of Forest Ecological Products

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Economics, Policy, and Social Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 August 2026 | Viewed by 1700

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Caiyao Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Research Academy for Rural Revitalization of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China
2. College of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Interests: forest ecosystem management and sustainable development; ecological economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Fanbin Kong

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Institute of Digital Forestry & Green Development, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
2. College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: forestry economy and policy; ecological economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of severe challenges to the global ecological environment, issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss are becoming increasingly prominent. Forests, as the lungs of the earth, are increasingly valued for their important role in maintaining ecological balance, regulating climate, and conserving water sources. Forest ecological products refer to various tangible and intangible benefits provided by forest ecosystems that meet the needs of human survival and development, including tangible products such as timber, non-timber forest products, and intangible services such as climate regulation, water conservation, soil and water conservation, and biodiversity maintenance. At the same time, with the continuous advancement of global development, the demand of people around the world for high-quality ecological products is generally on the rise. The concept of green development, which emphasizes the harmony between man and nature, has been widely recognized globally, and promoting the realization of the value of forest ecological products has become a key measure for the international community to practice the concept of sustainable development and promote the coordinated development of ecological protection and economic society. Currently, the world is in a critical period of pursuing sustainable development, and transforming the development model, optimizing the economic structure, and shifting the driving force of growth have become common tasks for all countries. Further, the realization of the value of forest ecological products is not only related to ecological environment protection, but is also an important way to promote the transformation and upgrading of regional economies and to achieve global social equity and sustainable prosperity. However, forest ecological products have the attribute of public goods, and their value accounting is complex, the market mechanism is imperfect, and the distribution of benefits is unreasonable, which makes it difficult to effectively transform the value of forest ecological products, and restricts the sustainability of ecological protection and the balance of global regional development.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • Research on the value composition and evaluation of forest ecological products;
  • Comparative study on the value realization models of forest ecological products in different regions;
  • Research on the market-oriented trading path of forest ecological products;
  • Research on the policy support system for realizing the value of forest ecological products;
  • Research on the guarantee system for realizing the value of forest ecological products;
  • Experience reference and localization research on the realization of international forest ecological product value;
  • Typical case analysis of realizing the value of forest ecological products at home and abroad;
  • Research on the mechanism of realizing the value of forest ecological products and promoting common prosperity;
  • Research on the mechanism of realizing the value of forest ecological products through digital empowerment.

Dr. Caiyao Xu
Prof. Dr. Fanbin Kong
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • forest ecological products
  • value realization
  • public product attribute
  • common prosperity
  • digital empowerment
  • sustainable development

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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26 pages, 927 KB  
Article
The Impact of Green Finance Development on Forest Ecological–Economic Efficiency: Evidence from Zhejiang Province, China
by Yu Lu, Fanbin Kong and Caiyao Xu
Forests 2026, 17(2), 198; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17020198 - 2 Feb 2026
Viewed by 270
Abstract
This study explores how green finance development (GF) promotes forest ecological–economic efficiency (FEEE), and identifies its underlying mechanisms and key determinants. Using panel data for 11 prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang Province from 2011 to 2022, the core area of China’s Green Finance Reform [...] Read more.
This study explores how green finance development (GF) promotes forest ecological–economic efficiency (FEEE), and identifies its underlying mechanisms and key determinants. Using panel data for 11 prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang Province from 2011 to 2022, the core area of China’s Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone, this study employ mediation, moderation, and panel threshold models to empirically examine the impact and transmission pathways of GF. The results indicate that GF significantly enhances FEEE, mainly through technological progress, industrial structure upgrading (ISU), and industrial structure ecologization (ISE). Environmental regulation (ER) exerts a dominant negative effect on efficiency improvement, while a substitution effect exists between GF and ER. The heterogeneity analysis shows that direct GF plays a more pronounced role in improving efficiency compared with indirect GF. The threshold analysis further reveals that the impact of GF on FEEE is non-linear. Specifically, the marginal effect of GF on FEEE diminishes beyond a certain threshold, while its positive effect strengthens once the levels of ISE and ISU surpass their respective thresholds. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding and policy design of GF in fostering ecological civilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Theory and Practice of Realizing the Value of Forest Ecological Products)
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Review

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26 pages, 1666 KB  
Review
Agroforestry as a Climate-Smart Economic Strategy: Carbon Benefits, Adaptation Pathways, and Global Evidence from Smallholder Systems
by Muhammad Asad Abbas, Suhail Asad, Jianqiang Zhang, Altyeb Ali Abaker Omer, Wajee ul Hassan, Muhammad Ameen, Chen Niu and Ya Li
Forests 2026, 17(2), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/f17020159 - 25 Jan 2026
Viewed by 908
Abstract
Smallholder agricultural systems in tropical and subtropical regions are threatened by climate change. This systematic review of 218 peer-reviewed studies (2000–2024) synthesizes evidence on agroforestry’s role as a climate-smart economic strategy across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Using a PRISMA-guided approach, we evaluated [...] Read more.
Smallholder agricultural systems in tropical and subtropical regions are threatened by climate change. This systematic review of 218 peer-reviewed studies (2000–2024) synthesizes evidence on agroforestry’s role as a climate-smart economic strategy across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Using a PRISMA-guided approach, we evaluated carbon sequestration pathways, biophysical adaptation benefits, and socioeconomic outcomes. Findings indicate that agroforestry systems can sequester 0.5–5 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 in biomass and soils. The results show that agroforestry has the potential to improve above- and below-ground carbon stocks, moderate microclimates, decrease erosion and improve functional biodiversity. The results, however, differ greatly depending on the type of system, ecology and practice. The socioeconomic advantages can be diversification of income and stability of the yield, and adoption is limited due to barriers related to the economy, lack of security in tenure, information asymmetry, and insufficient policy encouragement. We find that agroforestry is a multifunctional and climate resistant land-use approach, but the potential that agroforestry has cannot be fulfilled without context-specific policies, better extension services and inclusive carbon financing schemes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Theory and Practice of Realizing the Value of Forest Ecological Products)
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