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Forests
Special Issues
Reimagining Conservation and Management: Prioritizing Human Dimensions in Sustainable Forestry
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Reimagining Conservation and Management: Prioritizing Human Dimensions in Sustainable Forestry

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 6683

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ting Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: natural resource management; community development in protected areas; ecotourism; environmental sociology; conservation; human geography; environmental policy analysis
Dr. Baorong Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CAS Institutes of Science and Development (CASISD), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
Interests: national parks and protected areas(PAs) management; environmental policy analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are important storehouses of biodiversity and provide livelihoods for over a billion people worldwide, including many living in extreme poverty. It has become widely recognized that engagement with the human dimensions of conservation and environmental management is necessary for the production of robust and effective conservation policies, actions and outcomes. The integration of human dimension insights into conservation practices and management of forestry is still an area that remains limited and nascent. Current and future challenges of forestry include questions such as how to play an important role in addressing climate change and global environmental governance in the face of deteriorating environmental conditions in many parts of the world. Knowledge of how forestry works, not taking into consideration the integral role humans play in these systems, is unlikely to provide the complete understanding required to achieve the conservation or sustainable use of natural resources. We should really rethink the human dimension of conservation and management in sustainable forestry, requiring an interdisciplinary approach including information about how humans interact with natural resources. Although research on and practices of sustainable forestry have achieved remarkable results over the past 30 years, the development of the social economy and the current challenges of world forestry necessitate further research for the improvement of the future of forestry. Summarizing our experiences and lessons, analyzing existing problems and considering the future of development can lead to innovations in the theories and methods (and promote the practice and policy) surrounding sustainable forestry.

[*] Aim and scope:
This Special Issue focuses on the theories, methods, policies and practices that could contribute to the conservation and management of human dimensions of sustainable forestry, including lessons learned and innovative approaches. Interdisciplinary, high-quality studies are highly welcome. Fields relevant to this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, forestry, management, economics, ecology, environmental science, engineering design, calculations and modeling. Both original research articles and reviews are acceptable.

Dr. Ting Ma
Dr. Baorong Huang
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. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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

  • sustainable forestry
  • socioecological systems
  • collaborative governance
  • comanagement
  • natural resource conservation
  • sustainable livelihoods
  • community development
  • environmental policy
  • empowerment
  • gender dimensions

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1871 KiB  
Article
Towards an Inclusive Approach to Forest Management: Highlight of the Perception and Participation of Local Communities in the Management of miombo Woodlands around Lubumbashi (Haut-Katanga, D.R. Congo)
by Dieu-donné N’tambwe Nghonda, Héritier Khoji Muteya, Bill Kasongo Wa Ngoy Kashiki, Kouagou Raoul Sambiéni, François Malaisse, Yannick Useni Sikuzani, Wilfried Masengo Kalenga and Jan Bogaert
Forests 2023, 14(4), 687; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14040687 - 27 Mar 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2702
Abstract
The misappropriation of sustainable forest programs by local communities and the under-utilization of their knowledge are major impediments to the mitigation of deforestation. Within this context, participation has become a principle used in almost all interventions. It is important to evaluate the practices [...] Read more.
The misappropriation of sustainable forest programs by local communities and the under-utilization of their knowledge are major impediments to the mitigation of deforestation. Within this context, participation has become a principle used in almost all interventions. It is important to evaluate the practices in this area to ensure better involvement of local communities. This survey examined the perception and participation of local communities in the management of miombo woodlands, based on semi-structured questionnaire surveys involving 945 households in 5 villages in the Lubumbashi rural area. The results reveal that local communities perceive soil fertility loss and deforestation as major environmental challenges in their area. This perception remains largely influenced by their socio-demographic factors such as respondents’ age, seniority in the villages, and level of education. To mitigate deforestation, the rare actions of provincial public services and non-governmental organizations are focused on the sustainable exploitation of miombo woodlands through the development of simple management plans, reforestation, and forest control. These activities are sparse and poorly inclusive of scientific findings and the priorities of local communities. These justify poor community participation, particularly in the actions of provincial public services. For a better appropriation of sustainable forest management plans and to reinforce miombo woodlands’ resilience to anthropogenic pressures, based on these findings, we recommend a concerted and inclusive approach to forest planning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reimagining Conservation and Management: Prioritizing Human Dimensions in Sustainable Forestry)
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18 pages, 824 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Impact of Confirmation of Rights and Collective Trust on Farmer’s Forestry Management and Protection Behaviour—A Case of Collective Forest Areas in Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces, China
by Lipeng Li, Xiuling Ding, Apurbo Sarkar and Hua Li
Forests 2023, 14(2), 376; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020376 - 13 Feb 2023
Viewed by 3064
Abstract
Confirmation of rights and collective trust (interpersonal and institutional) can act as primary factors for facilitating effective forest management and conservation. Collective forests are lands held collectively by either rural or indigenous communities based on a shared history, language, culture, or lineage. It [...] Read more.
Confirmation of rights and collective trust (interpersonal and institutional) can act as primary factors for facilitating effective forest management and conservation. Collective forests are lands held collectively by either rural or indigenous communities based on a shared history, language, culture, or lineage. It is an institutional arrangement in which communities are involved wholly or partly in decision-making and contribute knowledge and labour to achieve healthy forests and social well-being. Based on the existing literature, the nature of collective forest rights and trust can be derived from social, rather than economic, prospects. Therefore, based on the institutional theory, this study constructs a theoretical framework to verify the impact of the confirmation of rights and trust on farmers’ forestry management conservation behaviour. The empirical setup of the study was comprised of a data set of 682 collective forest farmers in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, China. We utilized the negative binomial regression model to quantify the proposed framework. The main conclusions were as follows. Confirmation of rights and collective trust had a significant positive role in promoting farmers’ forestry management and protection behaviour. Increasing the confirmation of rights and trusts by one unit increased the number of farmers’ forest management and protection by 1.846 and 2.631 times, respectively. The interaction between confirmation and trust did not substantially affect farmers’ behaviour. The diverse forest labour force, the total area of forest land, and the number of forest plots had a significant positive impact, while the head of the village and the number of migrant workers significantly and negatively impacted farmers’ behaviour. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the forestry land rights system and strengthen the trust mechanism so that it can become an effective institutional incentive for farmers to manage and protect forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reimagining Conservation and Management: Prioritizing Human Dimensions in Sustainable Forestry)
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