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Eco-Harmony: Blending Conservation Strategies and Social Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 April 2026 | Viewed by 281

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Genetics and Germplasm Innovation of Tropical Special Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants (Hainan University), Ministry of Education, College of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: restoration; conservation and effective utilization of tropical rainforest; ecology

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Guest Editor
Arboricultural Research Institute, UT Forests, Graduate School for Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: forest culture

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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Genetics and Germplasm Innovation of Tropical Special Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants (Hainan University), Ministry of Education, College of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: tropical rainforest conservation; ecology

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Guest Editor
School of Agriculture and Rural Affairs & School of Rural Revitalization, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: forestry; forest manager; land use; ecosystem Service; landscape patter; resources monitoring
School of Agriculture and Rural Affairs & School of Rural Revitalization, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: landscape architecture

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The “new conservation debate” over the ethics and effectiveness of integrating conservation strategies and social development is thorny because it conflates two potentially irreconcilable and opposing truths. On one hand, strict conservation requires eliminating or at least dramatically minimizing human use of natural systems. On the other hand, conservation is almost exclusively a human endeavor that ultimately requires obtaining resource users to support conservation aims. There has been increasing recognition within systematic conservation strategies regarding the need to include social developments alongside biophysical assessments. However, in the approaches to identify potential conservation sites, there remains much room for improvement in the treatment of social data. In particular, there are few rigorous methods to account for the diversity of less-easily quantifiable social attributes that influence the implementation success of conservation sites (such as willingness to conserve) have been developed.  In this context, this Special Issue of "Eco - Harmony: Blending Conservation Strategies and Social Development" welcomes research papers on developing effective innovations to nicely integrating conservation strategies and social development thereby to achieve effective and sustainable conservation strategies, addressing one or more of the following research topics:

  • Research on developing effective conservation strategies for any threatened, severely damaged, or conserved plant, animal, and ecosystems;
  • Research on evaluating the influences of considering soil developments on conservation strategies or actions for any threatened, severely damaged, or conserved plant, animal, and ecosystems;
  • Research on forest culture for any ecosystems;
  • Research on how to balance traveling demand, landscape architecture and conservation planning;
  • Research on models on integrating conservation strategies and social development;
  • Research on whether and how soil development will affect conservation effectiveness for any threatened, severely damaged, or conserved plant, animal, and ecosystems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Hui Zhang
Dr. Ishibashi Seiji
Prof. Dr. Liang Tang
Prof. Dr. Wenfeng Gong
Dr. Hui Fu
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • ecological conservation
  • conservation strategies
  • social development
  • traveling demand
  • landscape architecture
  • conservation planning
  • ecosystems

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 646 KiB  
Article
Push and Pull Factors for Ecosystem Services Among Visitors to a Constructed Wetland in Putrajaya, Malaysia
by Noor Shahlawaty Mohamed Zubir and Azlan Abas
Sustainability 2025, 17(15), 6774; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17156774 - 25 Jul 2025
Viewed by 185
Abstract
Urban wetlands are increasingly recognized for their ecological and cultural benefits, yet remain underutilized due to limited public awareness and environmental literacy. This study investigates how visitors’ perceptions of wetland ecosystem services influence their motivations to engage with a constructed wetland in Putrajaya, [...] Read more.
Urban wetlands are increasingly recognized for their ecological and cultural benefits, yet remain underutilized due to limited public awareness and environmental literacy. This study investigates how visitors’ perceptions of wetland ecosystem services influence their motivations to engage with a constructed wetland in Putrajaya, Malaysia. By integrating the ecosystem services framework with push-pull motivation theory, the research aims to bridge knowledge gaps and inform sustainable wetland tourism planning. A structured questionnaire was administered to 420 visitors, with 385 valid responses (response rate: 91.7%). Data were analyzed using non-parametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis, Spearman correlation) and multiple regression analysis. Results show that cultural and regulating services are perceived most positively, while emotional restoration and aesthetic appreciation emerged as key motivational drivers. Regression findings reveal that push factors are stronger predictors of ecosystem service engagement than pull factors. These insights highlight the importance of emotional and psychological connections to nature, offering practical implications for urban wetland management, visitor education and environmental communication strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eco-Harmony: Blending Conservation Strategies and Social Development)
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