Forests in Protected Areas: Removing Threats and Improving Preservation

Dear Colleagues,

Protected areas, the backbone of biodiversity conservation, have gained global attention and increased interest in the last decades. The focus on biodiversity conservation has slowly widened and now includes more complex topics like socio-ecologic dynamics and human community wellbeing. Forests, an essential part of most of the PAs, are seen as a very important part of the answer to an increasing demand for qualitative and qualitative benefits from PAs due to their recognized capability to provide a wide range of services. In this context, the proper management of forests within PAs is of great importance both because of their contribution to the effectiveness of the PAs and because they can serve as an excellent model for forests outside the boundaries of PAs.

However, even for forests in protected areas, new challenges have arisen in recent times. Altered climatic conditions shift biotic communities over large areas causing biodiversity loss and complex socio-ecologic changes. In these conditions, protected forest management has become more complex, and seeking solutions for optimizing the multifunctionality of these forests has become a priority. Improved management and policy approaches for the better preservation of forests within the PAs are now urgently needed alongside ongoing efforts aimed at stopping deforestation and restoring the vitality of forests, in general. This issue is widely recognized, and the scientific community, forest, and protected area managers, and policymakers are now required to cope with the challenges while providing ecosystem services in an approach that is both sustainable and consistent with the primary biodiversity objectives. It is also necessary to monitor and coordinate these efforts in order for global, national, and local policymaking to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This Special Issue's goal is to investigate novel approaches for sustainable forest management in PAs, emphasizing solutions for improving biodiversity and adjusting to changing climatic circumstances in a harmonized socio-ecological system. Research articles, empirical work, reviews, and case studies that show successful examples from the field are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Aureliu-Florin Hălălișan
Prof. Dr. Bogdan Popa
Guest Editors

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