Arable Land System Resilience and Sustainable Use-Ways and Methods

Dear Colleagues,

Food and agriculture play a central role in global sustainable development. Eradicating hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agricultural development are still major challenges, especially in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, COVID-19 caused a long-starved population of 83 million to 132 million in 2020, making the goal of eradicating hunger even more difficult to achieve. Due to various restrictions caused by the epidemic and related blockade measures, food price fluctuations have intensified, food security in many regions is not guaranteed and small-scale food producers are still at a disadvantage.

Arable land has long been a core resource for food security, as well as a key resource for combating biodiversity loss and climate change, delivering ecosystem products and services and generating benefits for human health and well-being. In recent years, affected by the growth of the food demand caused by climate change, population increase and dietary structure change, the resilience of global arable land resources has decreased, and its sustainable utilization is facing severe challenges. Improving the resilience of arable land through effective ways and means and building a healthy arable land system that meets human development needs and environmental challenges are crucial to ensure regional food security and maintain global ecosystem stability, and this will contribute to the realization of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

We therefore invite contributions covering, but not limited to, papers on the following topics:

1. Research on the theoretical basis of arable land systems, including the division and connotation of arable land systems;
2. Sustainable use of arable land systems, including biodiversity protection, landscape pattern optimization, arable land restoration and quality improvement, arable land system evolution and carbon storage analysis;
3. Reasonable protection, planning and management of arable land landscapes, including arable land use and sustainable development patterns and protection systems;
4. Case studies of sustainable use of arable land systems;
5. Research on the tools and technical methods of arable land systems, including the identification of arable land systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Shuai Wang
Dr. Zhenxing Bian
Dr. Qianlai Zhuang
Guest Editors

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