Roles and Functions of Forests in Sustainable Rural Development
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: 15 December 2026 | Viewed by 561
Special Issue Editors
Interests: regional sustainable development; resource and environmental management; agricultural economy; rural management
Interests: sustainable development; land resource management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Rural communities worldwide face mounting pressures stemming from climate change, land degradation, and economic marginalization to which forests, as dynamic socio-ecological systems, offer critical pathways to resilience, livelihood diversification, and climate adaptation—yet their integrated potential remains underexploited in policy and practice.
This Special Issue seeks to advance evidence-based strategies for harnessing forests as engines of truly sustainable rural development. We focus on interdisciplinary research bridging ecological, economic, and social dimensions, emphasizing community-led approaches that balance conservation with equitable development.
We invite original contributions addressing the following topics:
- Forest-based livelihoods (e.g., agroforestry, non-timber forest products, and eco-tourism);
- Climate-smart forest management for rural resilience;
- Governance models (e.g., community forestry and payment for ecosystem services);
- Digital tools (remote sensing and AI) for forest monitoring and rural planning;
- Gender-inclusive and Indigenous knowledge integration.
Dr. Yong Sun
Dr. Baoyin Liu
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
- sustainable rural development
- forest ecosystem services
- community-based forest management
- climate resilience
- livelihood diversification
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