Urban Forestry and Sustainable Environments

Dear Colleagues,

The planet is developing towards a complex future under multiple factors such as climate change and rapid urbanization. According to the United Nation‘s report, there is an estimated average urbanization rate of ~80% and 55% in developed and developing countries as of the end of 2021, respectively. Green infrastructure (e.g., forests, parks and other types of green spaces) in urban areas provide people with a huge volume of ecosystem benefits. However, the quality of urban green infrastructure varies among cities in different countries/regions; key ecological processes, maintaining mechanisms as well as policy-decision routes remain unclear. This topic focuses on: the theoretical exploration and methodological innovation of forest biodiversity responses to the changed environment; animals and plants in natural and urban ecosystems; nature-based policies of city management; and routes to achieve sustainable development goals. All types of articles may include any aspect of climate change, forest biodiversity, human habitat, nature-based solution, urban ecology and urban planning, etc. This topic, in part, is also an important platform showing scientific output for the 60th anniversary of the Research Institute of Tropical Forestry (Chinese Academy of Forestry), the joint work of the Sino-Australian Collaborative Innovation Research Team “Urban Forestry and Livable Habitat”, National Urban Forest Innovation Alliance (China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration), and Sino-EU CLEARING HOUSE project research team (EU Horizon 2020 grant NO. 821242; China National Key R&D Program grant No. 2021YFE0193200). Suggested themes include, but are not limited to: 

• forest biology 
• human habitat 
• geography and geo-information science 
• landscape ecology 
• machine learning and deep learning 
• sustainable science 
• urban biodiversity 
• urban forestry 
• others

Dr. Nancai Pei
Dr. Qian (Chayn) Sun
Dr. Jiali Jin
Dr. Zezhou Hao
Topic Editors