Forestry Economy Sustainability and Ecosystem Governance

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are vital to planetary health and human well-being but face severe pressures from global changes. FAO data shows that 420 million hectares of forest have been lost since 1990, with ongoing deforestation driven by agriculture, illegal logging, and urbanization. This erodes carbon sinks  and threatens terrestrial biodiversity, which is worsened by extreme climate events that undermine ecosystem services supporting 1.6 billion people. Socially, forests sustain 1.2 billion livelihoods (timber, NTFPs, eco-tourism) and contribute 2–8% of the GDP in many LMICs, yet short-term economic pursuits cause unsustainable management, trapping communities in "poverty–degradation cycles." Complex governance—diverse stakeholder interests, fragmented structures, and weak enforcement—further hinders protection. Advancing the focused topic of this Special Issue, "Forestry Economy Sustainability and Ecosystem Governance", is key to the UN’s SDGs (15, 8, 13, etc.). With growing demand for sustainable forest products and climate finance, rigorous research is urgent to address gaps, enabling forests to thrive as ecological and economic assets.

This Special Issue aims to consolidate cutting-edge research on the synergies and trade-offs between forestry economic sustainability and ecosystem governance. It seeks to advance theoretical frameworks, empirical evidence, and practical solutions that reconcile forest resource utilization with ecological protection, supporting inclusive, resilient, and low-carbon forest-based development globally.

We welcome interdisciplinary contributions across forestry, economics, environmental management, policy science, and ecology, covering (but not limited to) the following subjects:

1. Sustainable forestry economic model innovations;
2. Inclusive benefit-sharing mechanisms in forest ecosystem governance;
3. Market-based tools (e.g., carbon trading, eco-compensation) and policy instruments for sustainable forestry;
4. Forest tenure systems, social perception, community participation, and livelihood impacts in ecosystem governance;
5. Policy synergy between forest conservation and rural poverty alleviation;
6. Digital technology applications in forest resource monitoring, carbon accounting, and governance efficiency;
7. Climate-resilient forest management strategies linking carbon sequestration and economic returns;
8. Forest ecosystem resilience under climate change;
9. Industrial transformation of forestry (e.g., bioeconomy, non-timber forest products) under ecological constraints and the circular economy in the forest product industry;
10. Valuation and integration of non-market forest ecosystem services;
11. Cross-scale governance collaboration (local, national, international) for transboundary forest ecosystems;
12. Impact of global demand for sustainable forest products on local governance.

Prof. Dr. Fanbin Kong
Dr. Caiyao Xu
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-anonymized 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.