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Means of Promoting Health Benefits Derived from the Forest Environment...
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Means of Promoting Health Benefits Derived from the Forest Environment to the General Public

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2025) | Viewed by 2592

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hiroko Ochiai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, Tokyo 152-8902, Japan
Interests: forest medicine; evidence-based research; forest therapy; preventive medicine; forest environment including water and soil

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) is a concept that originated in Japan about 40 years ago. Various studies have proven that the forest environment improves mental and physical health, and Shinrin-yoku has become an established health practice. Forest medicine is expected to have preventive medical effects. Therefore, the future trend of utilizing forest medicine as part of medical care is attracting a lot of attention. We believe that our upcoming challenges lie in properly utilizing the health benefits of forests to improve the health of the population.

In this Special Issue, we invite research covering a wide range of approaches to practical activities for health promotion, including the creation of systems, facilities, and design methods to encourage people to utilize the forest environment from the perspective of forest medicine. This Special Issue will include accounts of some trials that are presently underway. Evaluations of the effectiveness of forest medicine will be included, in addition to new perspectives for future developments.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to contribute to the dissemination of the health benefits derived from forest environments and their practical applications.

Dr. Hiroko Ochiai
Guest Editor

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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 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 2500 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 environment
  • forest medicine
  • health promotion
  • preventive medicine
  • mental health
  • physical health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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12 pages, 527 KB  
Systematic Review
Community Forests and Public Health: A Research Agenda
by Pooja S. Tandon, Shelby Semmes, Kim Garrett, Liv Ellerton, Susan Charnley and Howard Frumkin
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(10), 1601; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22101601 - 21 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1738
Abstract
The natural environment is integral to supporting healthy and resilient communities. Community forests (CFs) are forested parcels, typically in rural areas, where community members have access, share governance, and receive various benefits. While considerable research demonstrates that urban parks and forests are important [...] Read more.
The natural environment is integral to supporting healthy and resilient communities. Community forests (CFs) are forested parcels, typically in rural areas, where community members have access, share governance, and receive various benefits. While considerable research demonstrates that urban parks and forests are important for human health, similar assessments are less available for CFs specifically. Although CFs exist in multiple countries, their policy, ecological, ownership, and governance contexts differ significantly. This review focuses on CFs in the United States. The goals of this project were to systematically review current evidence on the relationship between CFs and human health, identify knowledge gaps in the existing research, and propose a scientific research agenda that identifies critical questions related to CFs and public health in the U.S., with application in other contexts. We conducted a systematic review of the literature, screening 351 studies and assessing twenty-four full-text articles, only one of which met inclusion criteria. This mixed-methods study characterized 70 CFs in the Eastern U.S. and featured four case studies. The majority of CFs (93%) and all case studies identified recreational use as their most common purpose. The evidence base on the health implications of CFs is very thin. Targeted research on CFs and their impact on health could provide evidence to inform CF processes and help optimize their health outcomes. We propose a research agenda on CFs in the U.S. based on several pathways of public health promotion: nature contact, climate mitigation/adaptation, economic opportunities, community cohesion, and equity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Means of Promoting Health Benefits Derived from the Forest Environment to the General Public)
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