Diverse Forestry Systems and Cleaner Production Practices for the Bio-Based Economy and Sustainable Development

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Economics, Policy, and Social Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 April 2024) | Viewed by 2457

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Thapar School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala 147004, Punjab, India
Interests: biomass and bioenergy production; sustainability analysis of biofuel production; agroforestry; urban forestry; land restoration; phytoremediation; ecological restoration
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Guest Editor
Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, UP, India
Interests: climate-resilient agriculture; food security; sustainable agriculture; agrobiodiversity; agricultural sustainability; indigenous and local knowledge (ILK); wild crops
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Guest Editor
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor Barat 16115, Indonesia
Interests: forest landscape restoration; landscape sustainability, biodiversity, ecosystem services; forest biomass; bioenergy and carbon sequestration
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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Applied Sciences and Humanities, GLA University, Mathura 281406, UP, India
Interests: land restoration; biomonitoring, bioremediation and bioeconomy; plant-microbe-pollutant interactions
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Guest Editor
1. NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore
2. Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
Interests: agroecosystem management; biofertilizers; climate resilient agriculture; food and nutritional security; plant-microbe interactions; resource conservation practices
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid growth in the population has created tremendous pressure on various natural resources, including forest resources, for harnessing several ecosystem services. The most common trade-off is deforestation for obtaining the benefits like the production of food, fodder, fuel, and the development of infrastructure for urban sprawl and industrialization. These approaches usually result in land abandonment, degradation, or the development of urban heat islands, subsequently leading to unforeseen consequences at regional and global scales. Therefore, the unprecedented increase in the worldwide population has urged humanity to explore and develop various areas, including diverse forestry practices and cleaner production approaches. These pioneering practices can help assure human adaptability towards socio-ecological and economic interfaces under changing climatic conditions.

Consequently, they could further help build a bio-based economy for a sustainable future. Hence, innovative and sustainable forestry practices are imperative to address sustainability challenges in the current Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In this regard, the present Special Issue, “Diverse forestry systems and cleaner production practices for the bio-based economy and sustainable development,” aims to collate notable research on addressing the diverse issues of forestry practices, alternative cleaner production approaches, improving human well-being, and approaches to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This Special Issue welcomes original research, reviews, mini-reviews, short communications, monographs, or opinions related to—but not limited to—the following:

  1. Forest landscape restoration for bioenergy parks, aesthetic development, and other benefits;
  2. Innovative forestry practices in urbs, suburbs, agriscapes, and potential ecosystems for green spaces;
  3. Urban forestry and management practices for multipurpose benefits and sustainable cities;
  4. Sustainability assessments of community, urban, and other forestry practices;
  5. Policy perspectives and governmental schemes for promoting cleaner production, greening, and afforestation;
  6. Cleaner agricultural productions for the smart utilization of land resources;
  7. Cleaner production strategies for environmental clean up;
  8. Phytochemicals and value-added byproducts from sustainable forestry systems;
  9. Agroforestry as a sustainable approach towards bioeconomy.

Dr. Sheikh Adil Edrisi
Dr. Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash
Dr. Himlal Baral
Dr. Vishal Tripathi
Dr. Rama Kant Dubey
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • forest landscape restoration
  • biomass and bioenergy production
  • cleaner production
  • phytoremediation and environmental clean-up
  • sustainability assessment
  • green space development
  • urban forestry and agroforestry
  • remote sensing and GIS approaches
  • policy implications
  • greening and afforestation approaches
  • cleaner agricultural productions
  • value-added products and bioeconomy
  • circular economy
  • decision making and forestry plantations
  • land suitability and indigenous practices

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 10834 KiB  
Article
Carbon Emissions and Vegetation Dynamics: Assessing the Spatiotemporal Environmental Impacts of Hydropower Dams in the Lancang River Basin
by Yu Liu, Xiaomao Wang, Gang Ma, Wei Zhou and Xiang Cheng
Forests 2024, 15(5), 872; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15050872 - 17 May 2024
Viewed by 951
Abstract
Recent decades in the Lancang River Basin have witnessed extensive construction of hydropower dams, profoundly impacting the local environment. Utilizing high-precision satellite data, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of vegetation cover and carbon emissions, integrating data-driven time series and spatial analysis models to [...] Read more.
Recent decades in the Lancang River Basin have witnessed extensive construction of hydropower dams, profoundly impacting the local environment. Utilizing high-precision satellite data, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of vegetation cover and carbon emissions, integrating data-driven time series and spatial analysis models to capture both temporal and spatial dynamics. Our findings reveal that hydropower dam construction in the Lancang River Basin has significantly promoted vegetation restoration and growth, concurrently facilitating a reduction in regional carbon emissions. Employing deep learning models for time-series prediction, we observed a substantial increase in the sum of the local normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) post-construction, with an average rise of from 16.15% to a maximum of 20.12% during the pivotal hydropower dams’ operational phase. Between 2001 and 2020, the construction of hydropower dams in the basin corresponded to notable changes in ecological and carbon metrics. Specifically, vegetation cover expansion intensity (VCEI) reversed from a negative mean of −0.009 to a positive mean of 0.008. Additionally, the carbon emission intensity (CEI) around these dams drastically reduced, shifting from an average of 0.877 to 0.052. Importantly, the Global Moran’s I for VCEI significantly increased from 0.288 pre-2016 to 0.679 post-2015, reflecting a stronger spatial autocorrelation in vegetation patterns. Accordingly, these findings illustrate the complex interplay between hydropower dams and environmental outcomes, underscoring the critical role of pivotal hydropower dam construction in ecological improvement. The research results have improved and complemented those of previous studies on the environmental impact of hydraulic engineering, providing valuable insights for the construction management and policy formulation of hydropower dams in other similar river basins around the world. Full article
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