Restoring Mountain Landscapes: Innovative Approaches for Long-Term Sustainability
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Landscape Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 782
Editors
Interests: mountain science; sustainable development; sustainable land management; rural livelihoods; ecosystem services; disaster risk management; climate change adaptation; vulnerability; resilience governance
Interests: geo-spatial technology; quantitative modelling; sustainability; soil and agriculture; agroecology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Mountainous regions, covering approximately 27% of the Earth's land area, are home to about 1.1 billion people. These areas are characterized by vast territories, abundant natural resources, critical ecological functions, rich cultural heritage, and significant development potential, making them strategically important for supporting global sustainable socio-economic development. However, challenges such as limited accessibility, fragile ecosystems, high sensitivity to climate change, and vulnerability to natural disasters have long hindered their development, rendering them among the world's less developed regions.
In recent years, to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many countries have implemented innovative concepts and policies for mountain development. These efforts have led to transformative changes in landscape patterns, ecological conditions, human well-being, and socio-economic dynamics across mountainous areas. Despite these advancements, current research lacks systematic reviews of these emerging concepts, policies, and practical cases, as well as comprehensive reporting on the evolving trends toward sustainability in global mountain regions.
To this end, this Special Issue seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice by curating cutting-edge research on sustainable mountain development. It seeks to explore new theories, technologies, pathways, and models that synergize the objectives of conservation, restoration, and development, thereby promoting the long-term sustainability of mountain landscapes worldwide. Topics of interest for this call include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Landscape Change and Socio-Ecological Effects;
- Ecological barrier construction and Environmental Protection;
- Land Consolidation engineering and Sustainable Farming;
- Restoration of Disaster-affected and Mining Lands;
- Poverty Reduction and Related Industry Development;
- Settlement Planning and Community Resilience;
- Territorial Optimization and Socio-Ecological Impacts;
- Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Green Development;
- Case Studies in Resilient Governance;
- Case Studies in Climate Adaptation.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Dr. Ming Li
Dr. Umesh Kumar Mandal
Dr. Suresh Chaudhary
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. 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
- mountain sustainability
- landscape restoration
- socio-ecological systems
- climate adaptation
- integrated disaster risk reduction
- resilient governance
- sustainable community development
- land use optimization
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