Dear Colleagues,

To secure a stable energy supply and reduce GHG emissions, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal heat, and biomass, need to be developed. The oil crises of the 1970s spurred research into bioenergy from woody biomass. Although promising results were obtained from many studies, widespread commercial bioenergy capacity was not developed because the crude oil price stabilized at a lower level and the expected demand for energy alternatives declined. Since the 1990s, however, woody biomass has been the focus of renewed interest as a renewable and carbon-neutral energy resource that can help mitigate climate change and improve energy security.

Forests serve a critical role in climate change mitigation, in which forests sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store carbon in wood. Therefore, forests need to be continuously and properly managed, and sustainably harvested wood should be utilized at all levels—from building materials, furniture, board, and paper to chemical products and fuel. However, in many countries, forests have been degraded due to overuse or mismanagement. In some developing counties, almost all wood yield is used for firewood or charcoal production. In other countries, traditional forest product industries have been depressed and forest bioenergy and advanced bioproducts are expected to contribute to revitalizing forest product industries and local economy in regions where forestry and the forest industry are the major source of income. Some counties also have serious problems with overstocked, dense forests which are behind in tending and subject to forest fires and other large-scale disturbances. In these situations, tending operations and energy utilization are also expected to contribute to making forests healthier and more resilient to wildfire.

This Special Issue of Forests is focused on the sustainability of wood yield in the context of active forest management. To utilize wood and forest biomass resources for bioenergy, technically feasible and economically viable wood and forest biomass resources should be estimated accurately considering their long-term availability as well as important environmental and social aspects, while maintaining or enhancing the ecological, economic, and social functions of forests. To promote sustainable wood and biomass utilization, cost-effective and environmentally friendly wood and forest biomass supply chain management should be developed in order to meet the demand for both traditional uses and new innovative high-added-value materials. Innovation is also required in order to replace outdated facilities, systems, and equipment with more efficient and low-GHG-emission options at multiple points along the bioenergy and bioproducts supply chains. Prospective authors are invited to contribute original manuscripts to this Special Issue covering the following subjects:

1. Forest sustainability to maintain ecological, economic and social functions;
2. Forest landscape restoration;
3. Long-term availability of technically feasible and economically viable wood and forest biomass resources considering environmental and social aspects;
4. Sustainable forest operations including road management, stand establishment and treatment, as well as human factors;
5. Cost-effective and environmentally friendly wood and forest biomass supply chain management;
6. High-added-value new materials and bioenergy pathways as well as efficient and low-GHG-emission facilities and equipment.

This list is not exclusive, and prospective authors may submit manuscripts from any field. Submissions can be structured to reflect any of the accepted paper types—namely, research papers, short communications, and review papers. Please click on the Instructions for Authors button for more details regarding paper submission.

Dr. Kazuhiro Aruga
Dr. Nathaniel Anderson
Dr. Robert Prinz
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

• Forest sustainability
• Forest landscape restoration
• Long-term availability
• Sustainable forest operations
• Supply chain management
• High-added-value material
• Wood processing and forest biomass utilization