Wildfires in Social-Ecological Systems: Land Governance, Challenges, and Environmental Equity
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Socio-Economic and Political Issues".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 951
Special Issue Editors
Interests: socio-ecological systems; politics of wildfires; soil quality and health; GIS and remote sensing
Interests: agroecology; land management; prescribed burning
Interests: dendrochronology; quantitative wood anatomy; forest fires
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Wildfires are no longer isolated events; they are systemic disturbances reshaping landscapes, communities and governance. Their impacts encompass environmental damage, disruption to human activities, and health risks, including direct threats to human life and property, as well as broader socioeconomic and psychological consequences. In today’s challenging era, characterized by complex and rapidly changing conditions, countries—both those which have been historically fire-prone and those previously less affected—are confronting limitations in traditional fire management. This underscores the urgent need for new governance paradigms that adopt a holistic, integrated approach.
In this context, the present Special Issue “Wildfires in Social-Ecological Systems: Land Governance, Challenges, and Environmental Equity” aims to collect novel research addressing these challenges by combining environmental and social sciences across local and regional scales. Covering land systems science through social-ecological research, economic and sustainability sciences, and land governance across wildlands, rural, and urban contexts in diverse biomes, the ultimate aim is to provide robust scientific evidence to support adaptation strategies, inform management, and guide sustainable development in a fast-changing world.
We welcome original articles, reviews, technical notes, and communications, encompassing but not confined to the following research themes:
Environmental and climate challenges
- Wildfire regimes influenced by climatic factors, land-use changes and social dynamics.
- Fire effects on soil, forest ecosystems, biodiversity, air quality and public health.
Land governance and fire risk
- Analysis of public policies and institutions involved in fire management.
- Study of spatial and temporal divergences between policies and actual ecological dynamics.
- Proposals for preventive governance to foster a resilient landscape.
Environmental equity and social justice
- Analysis of inequalities in risk exposure and access to mitigation resources.
- Involvement of local communities in land-use planning and management.
- Study of the social implications of fire management policies, including impacts on vulnerable groups.
Resilience and adaptability
- Perceptions and roles of stakeholders, professionals, and the general public in wildfire science and management.
- Strategies to enhance the adaptive capacity of rural and urban settings.
- Promotion of fire-smart territories capable of coexisting with fire sustainably.
We welcome case studies from every region of the globe to highlight different management methods and local impacts.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Luigi Marfella
Dr. Mark Ashby
Dr. Francesco Niccoli
Dr. Andreas Heinemeyer
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. Land 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
- climate change
- ecological disturbance
- socio-ecological resilience
- environmental management
- community adaptation
- rural/wildland–urban interface
- indigenous communities’ knowledge
- integrated fire management
- socio-economic and health impacts
- fire effects
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