Dear Colleagues,

Even if the global megatrends and operational challenges drive us to operate more efficiently and sustainably across all sectors, forest management must be given more attention. In particular, one of the most important challenges that forest managers will continue to face regard the adaptation of forest management and operations to changing climatic conditions. In recent years, the new concept of Climate-Smart Forestry has arisen. CSF is a targeted approach or strategy used to increase the climate benefits from forests and the forest sector in a synergistic way. CSF cannot be separated by the sustainable implementation of forest operations. In this context, it is important to consider the new comprehensive research, development and innovation (RDI) studies, improving the cost, energy efficiency and quality of wood-harvesting operations, long-distance transport and forest road planning. The rapid development of technology, combined with an increase in the demand for wood and reduced access to manpower, is resulting in significant progress in the construction of machines used in forestry. One clear example is Forest 4.0, which represents the integration of advanced digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and big data analytics, into forest management practices. The main goals of all these recent topics include optimizing resource utilization, reducing waste, improving supply chain management, and enhancing the decision-making process through data-driven insights.

In this regard, we would like to create a multi-point of view compendium of the research on the management and planning of forest operations to cope with changing climatic conditions and with the modern challenges that forest managers have to deal with. We invite both original research papers and literature reviews touching on the following topics:

• Shaping sustainable forest operations in a changing climate;
• The evaluation of the sustainability of forest operations under the point of view of the three pillars (economy, environment and society);
• The assessment of the environmental impacts related to forest operations and design of best management practices for mitigation and/or adaptation to changing climate;
• Innovative forest harvesting systems, technology and techniques;
• The role and potential of precision forestry (robotics, LIDAR, trafficability maps, etc.) for improving the sustainability of forest operations;
• Environmentally friendly forest operations and reduced impact logging (RIL);
• How forest operations can be adjusted to preserve levels of biodiversity necessary to keep forests healthy and productive.

We encourage studies from all fields, including experimental studies, monitoring approaches and models, on silviculture and logging activities, to contribute to this Special Issue in order to promote knowledge and adaptation strategies for the active management, preservation, and future development of Climate-Smart Forest Operations.

Prof. Dr. Rodolfo Picchio
Dr. Francesco Latterini
Dr. Rachele Venanzi
Guest Editors

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• climate-smart forest operations
• harvesting systems
• sustainable forest management
• best management practices
• trafficability maps
• reduced-impact logging (RIL) techniques