Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable land management (SLM), focusing mainly on soil health, ecosystem and biodiversity preservation, resilience to natural hazards, and landscape remediation, is a crucial need and goal for modern societies as life on earth depends on it (human nutrition, clean water, habitat flourishment, economic prosperity, psychological and mental well-being, etc.). Land is the main recipient of climate change and environmental pressures (desertification, degradation, pollution, contamination, human life loss, famine, etc.), originating mainly from human activities (industrialization, urbanization, extensive and uncontrolled conventional farming, overuse of fossil fuels, etc.), constituting the need to counteract and respond to these challenges as a survival-level priority. An analysis by the Mission Board for Soil Health and Food and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) states that 60–70% of soils in the EU are in an unhealthy state. At the same time, on a global scale, the combined effects of climate change and land degradation may force approximately 700 million people to migrate by 2050. Land is a fragile resource that must be safeguarded for future generations.

In this light, both global and European initiatives, policies, and strategies are directly or indirectly linked to sustainable land management, preservation, and restoration. The global “One Health” concept links soil health to ecosystem health, food systems, and people. At the same time, most of the 17 SDGs, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 through the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, include the land environment and its ecosystem services (safe and nutritious food, water storage and purification, flow regulation, aquifer recharge, carbon capture, nutrient cycling, contamination and pollution reduction, biodiversity preservation, landscapes, cultural heritage preservation, greening of towns and cities, etc.)  in their core (e.g., SDG2: zero hunger; SDG3: good health and well-being; SDG6: clean water and sanitation; SDG15: life on land).

In parallel, in the EU, land is a leading area of Research & Innovation (R&I) and policy-making towards “Europe’s twin green and digital transition” as it is connected to a wide range of ongoing strategies and policies, including the Farm to Fork Strategy; the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030; the Climate Adaptation Strategy; the Zero Pollution Action Plan for air, water and soil; the Forest Strategy; and the Organic Action Plan, in addition to upcoming ones (New Soil Strategy, EU Soil Observatory, New Common Agricultural Policy, Circular Economy Action Plan, etc.).

Overall, integrated environmental and land management is a combination of scientific, political, and socio-economic practices and deals with the regulation of both the effects of human activities on the environment and the effects of the environment on humans. Thus, based on this framework, this Special Issue (SI) envisages becoming a unique reference point in the existing literature, as it will focus on presenting innovative and contemporary methodologies, techniques and tools, significant case studies, and thorough reviews, covering the widest possible range of integrated contemporary concepts presented in its title.

Original and high-quality research and review papers will be accepted from both stakeholders and researchers around the world, focusing on topics such as:

•     Reducing land degradation relating to desertification and drought events;
•     Conserving and increasing soil organic carbon stocks;
•     No net soil sealing and increasing the reuse of urban soils;
•     Reducing soil pollution and enhancing restoration;
•     Preventing soil erosion;
•     Improving soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops;
•     Reducing the EU global footprint on soils;
•     Increasing soil literacy in society.

Dr. Kleomenis Kalogeropoulos
Prof. Dr. Andreas Tsatsaris
Dr. Nikolaos Stathopoulos
Dr. Demetrios E. Tsesmelis
Prof. Dr. Nilanchal Patel
Dr. Xiao 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. Land 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.

• land degradation
• desertification
• soil erosion
• drought
• ecosystem services
• biodiversity
• terrain evaluation

• Innovative Research Approaches & Practices towards Sustainable Land Management, Preservation & Restoration in Land (10 articles)