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Sustainability
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Sustainable and Regenerative Ecologies for the Management of Mountain Forestscapes
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Sustainable and Regenerative Ecologies for the Management of Mountain Forestscapes

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 4777

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Fausto Sarmiento

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Guest Editor
Neotropical Montology Collaboratory, Geography Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Interests: critical biogeography; political ecology; landscape ecology; montane cloud forests conservation; biocultural heritage preservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Barbaros Gönençgil

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Geography Department, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye
Interests: climate and climate change; environmental geography; mountain zone management
Dr. Pankaj Kumar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India
Interests: glaciology; hydroclimate; remote sensing; GIS

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forest restoration of mountains prompts a diverse approach to evaluating conservation and management practices for sustainable and regenerative development of the mountain socio-ecological system, benefiting forestscape’s biocultural diversity. We have identified the need to coalesce distinct approaches and methodologies of mountain forestry into a transdisciplinary montology; this will allow us to more effectively evaluate the needs for the protection of forestlands that co-create different transformations of the mountain forestscape. This Special Issue on “Sustainable and Regenerative Ecologies for the Management of Mountain Forestscapes'' will allow montologists to better grasp effective conservation measures in productive, conserved mountain forestscapes.

We welcome contributions from different areas of study and distinct focal emphases to highlight the need for better forest conservation, where legal, social, cultural, and financial frameworks help mountain forestscapes secure their role of provision, regulation, support, and cultural ecosystem services and other benefits. We welcome diverse perspectives from both seasoned and young researchers, those of all genders and educational affiliations, and professional and academic tropes, allowing for the consilient montology of different longitudes, latitudes, and altitudes of the graticule of mountain forests. With these contributions, we seek to reinforce the membership of the Commission of Mountain Studies of the International Geographical Union that underlies this effort.

  1. With the UN’s International Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, the goal of recovering not only the form and function of the lost forests but also their function becomes an imperative for the integrated management of resources in watersheds that have severely been affected by colonization and exploitation of the wood and other critical resources. The importance of this research area bridges pure and applied sciences to grapple with sustainable and regenerative solutions for mountain forestscapes.
  1. The Special Issue aims to make evident the need for several ecologies that are needed to understand the sustainability and regenerability of mountain forests, from mathematical ecology and modeling scenarios to population ecology, community ecology, and landscape ecology to forest biogeography, political ecology, and invasive dispersal ecology, to hydrometeorological effects on aerosols, cloud formation and risk/hazards of disturbance and catastrophic episodes, all these ecologies are needed to better understand the appropriate level of active or passive manipulation of the mountain forestscape to attain successful practices for sustainable and regenerative social forestry. By questioning the type of ecology needed to manage mountain forests, we related squarely to the sustainability journal's scope.
  1. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: mountain geography, historical ecology, biogeography, and forest distribution, land-use and land-cover change, paleoecology of forest migration, historical ecology of mountain forestry, community-driven conservation, geospatial analyses of watersheds, Chipko-like movements, forest handprint and reforestation, forest footprint and deforestation, restoration ecology and sustainable uses, Carbon sequestration and other adaptation mechanisms for mountain forest management amidst meteorological climate change and other pernicious factors, such as religious climates, military climates, political climates, investment climates and more.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Fausto Sarmiento
Prof. Dr. Barbaros Gönençgil
Dr. Pankaj Kumar
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

  • mountain forests
  • sustainable forestry
  • regenerative forests
  • silviculture
  • restoration
  • regenerative development
  • mountainscapes
  • mountain forestscapes

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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26 pages, 6906 KiB  
Article
Farmer’s Perception of Climate Change and Factors Determining the Adaptation Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Agriculture in the Cold Desert Region of Himachal Himalayas, India
by Pankaj Kumar, Rajesh Sarda, Ankur Yadav, Ashwani, Barbaros Gonencgil and Abhinav Rai
Sustainability 2025, 17(6), 2548; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062548 - 14 Mar 2025
Viewed by 818
Abstract
Agricultural practices in the cold desert region of the Himalayas are frequently affected by climate-induced uncertainty in the past few decades. This research work aimed to examine the following questions: (a) Are there any significant climatic changes in the cold desert region of [...] Read more.
Agricultural practices in the cold desert region of the Himalayas are frequently affected by climate-induced uncertainty in the past few decades. This research work aimed to examine the following questions: (a) Are there any significant climatic changes in the cold desert region of Himachal Himalayas? (b) How do the local farmers perceive climate change? (c) What and how indigenous and modern climate sensitive resilience measures/practices are being adapted by farmers for risk mitigation? A modified Mann–Kendall (m-MK) test and anomaly index were used to examine the changes in climatic variables over the cold desert region. Data on the observed changes in climatic variables were investigated through gridded products provided by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and farmer perception, and their adaptation measures were collected by an extensive primary survey using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results indicate that farmers’ perceptions of changing rainfall, temperature, and seasons were consistent with historical climatic data. The drying water resources and crop damage were the most pressing concerns for farmers due to climate change activity. The farmers are adapting to climate change by altering their farming practices for agricultural risk management. The binary logistics regression (BLR) model was used to investigate the influence of different variables on the adopting farmer’s decision. The result revealed that various factors like landholding size, accessibility of transport, awareness of climate change, availability of water, and distance from market were responsible for choosing suitable climate resilience adaptation measures. This research contributes to recalibrating appropriate strategies across the cold desert region for designing sustainable agricultural practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Regenerative Ecologies for the Management of Mountain Forestscapes)
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26 pages, 7934 KiB  
Article
Study of Land Surface Changes in Highland Environments for the Sustainable Management of the Mountainous Region in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
by Amjad Ali Khan, Xian Xue, Hassam Hussain, Kiramat Hussain, Ali Muhammad, Muhammad Ahsan Mukhtar and Asim Qayyum Butt
Sustainability 2024, 16(23), 10311; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310311 - 25 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1651
Abstract
Highland ecologies are the most susceptible to climate change, often experiencing intensified impacts. Due to climate change and human activities, there were dramatic changes in the alpine domain of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a vital project of the Belt and [...] Read more.
Highland ecologies are the most susceptible to climate change, often experiencing intensified impacts. Due to climate change and human activities, there were dramatic changes in the alpine domain of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a vital project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPEC is subjected to rapid infrastructure expansion, which may lead to potential land surface susceptibility. Hence, focusing on sustainable development goals, mainly SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) and SDG 13 (climate action), to evaluate the conservation and management practices for the sustainable and regenerative development of the mountainous region, this study aims to assess change detection and find climatic conditions using multispectral indices along the mountainous area of Gilgit and Hunza-Nagar, Pakistan. It has yielded practical and highly relevant implications. For sustainable and regenerative ecologies, this study utilized 30 × 30 m Landsat 5 (TM), Landsat 7 (ETM+), and Landsat-8/9 (OLI and TIRS), and meteorological data were employed to calculate the aridity index (AI). The results of the AI showed a non-significant decreasing trend (−0.0021/year, p > 0.05) in Gilgit and a significant decreasing trend (−0.0262/year, p < 0.05) in Hunza-Nagar. NDVI distribution shows a decreasing trend (−0.00469/year, p > 0.05), while NDWI has depicted a dynamic trend in water bodies. Similarly, NDBI demonstrated an increasing trend, with rates of 79.89%, 87.69%, and 83.85% from 2008 to 2023. The decreasing values of AI mean a drying trend and increasing drought risk, as the study area already has an arid and semi-arid climate. The combination of multispectral indices and the AI provides a comprehensive insight into how various factors affect the mountainous landscape and climatic conditions in the study area. This study has practical and highly relevant implications for policymakers and researchers interested in research related to land use and land cover change, environmental and infrastructure development in alpine regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Regenerative Ecologies for the Management of Mountain Forestscapes)
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Review

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19 pages, 689 KiB  
Review
From Sustainability to Regeneration: A Systems Approach to Mountain Forestscape Restoration
by Andrea Majlingova
Sustainability 2025, 17(9), 4001; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17094001 - 29 Apr 2025
Viewed by 280
Abstract
Mountain forestscapes are among the planet’s most vital socio-ecological systems, functioning as critical reservoirs of biodiversity, regulators of climate, and essential sources of water and livelihood for surrounding and downstream communities. However, these landscapes face intensifying threats from climate change, land-use transformation, resource [...] Read more.
Mountain forestscapes are among the planet’s most vital socio-ecological systems, functioning as critical reservoirs of biodiversity, regulators of climate, and essential sources of water and livelihood for surrounding and downstream communities. However, these landscapes face intensifying threats from climate change, land-use transformation, resource extraction, unsustainable tourism, and fragmented governance. While sustainable forest management has provided essential frameworks for conservation, its focus on maintaining existing conditions is increasingly insufficient amid accelerating ecological and social decline. This paper explores the conceptual and practical evolution from sustainability to regeneration in mountain forest management, distinguishing between the theoretical foundations of each paradigm and analyzing the key drivers of degradation across diverse biocultural regions. Methodologically, the study employs a transdisciplinary and qualitative design, integrating critical literature synthesis, comparative regional analysis, and Indigenous and local knowledge systems. A structured review of 72 peer-reviewed sources and ethnographic materials was conducted, combined with a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of mountain case studies from the Alps, Carpathians, Andes, Eastern Arc Mountains, and Himalayas. The study synthesizes regenerative strategies such as ecological connectivity restoration, agroecological landscape design, participatory watershed management, and adaptive, polycentric governance. Based on these insights, an integrated framework for regenerative mountain forestscape management is proposed, aligned with global policy agendas including the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, nature-based solutions (NbS), and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. By prioritizing ecological renewal, cultural continuity, and community agency, this work contributes to transformative, place-based approaches that restore the functionality, resilience, and integrity of mountain landscapes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Regenerative Ecologies for the Management of Mountain Forestscapes)
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