Leveraging the Multidisciplinary Insights to Solve Watershed Management Problems
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 February 2026 | Viewed by 748
Special Issue Editors
Interests: river health assessment; watershed ecological restoration
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Watershed management has emerged as a critical priority in addressing global environmental challenges, including water scarcity, ecological degradation, and climate change. Effective management of watersheds—as complex natural–social systems—is essential for ensuring water security, maintaining ecological balance, and supporting sustainable socio-economic development. Key objectives include changes in watershed ecosystem services, optimal water resource allocation, ecological protection and restoration, and policy recommendations for enhancing the health of wetlands and ecosystems. However, watershed management faces the dual challenges of complexity and uncertainty, necessitating integrating multidisciplinary insights and innovative technological tools to develop science-based, adaptive, and precision-driven management strategies.
For this Special Issue, we request original research articles that contribute to advancing watershed health management through innovative approaches, including but not limited to the following:
- Coupled hydrological–ecological modeling to quantify the impacts of human activities and climate change on the watershed ecosystem;
- Integration of remote sensing, GIS, and multi-objective optimization algorithms to explore equitable and sustainable allocation mechanisms for social and ecological water use;
- The spatiotemporal evolution patterns and driving mechanisms of wetland biodiversity under combined natural and anthropogenic influences;
- Novel policy frameworks or management models that foster eco-social synergies, informed by multidisciplinary perspectives;
- Assessing how or why new watershed management technologies may or may not impact how individuals and communities live within the watershed.
We particularly encourage submissions that leverage cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and machine learning , to enhance data processing, decision-making, and predictive modeling in watershed management. By fostering innovative and scalable solutions, this Special Issue will support the global goal of achieving harmonious coexistence between humans and water systems.
Dr. Yang Zhou
Dr. Kai Tian
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. 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
- model simulation
- watershed ecosystem services
- wetland biodiversity
- policy frameworks
- multidisciplinary insights
- watershed management
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