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 2000 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.

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

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 engaging with the human dimensions of conservation and environmental management is needed to produce robust and effective conservation policies, actions and outcomes. The integration of human dimensions insights into conservation practice and management of forestry, still remains limited and nascent.  The current and future challenge for forestry is 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 work that does not include consideration of the integral role of humans in these systems is unlikely to provide a complete understanding required to achieve conservation or sustainable use of natural resources.  We really should rethink the human dimension of conservation and management in sustainable forestry.  This rethinking requires an interdisciplinary approach that includes 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 to improve the future of forestry. Summarizing our experiences and lessons, analyzing the existing problems, and thinking about the future of development will lead innovations in the theory and method (and promote the practice and policy) of sustainable forestry.