Forest Transitions to Sustainable Futures? Examining Qualitative Aspects of Forest Cover Increases

Dear Colleauges,

In academic discourse, a ‘forest transition’ (FT) describes a turnaround in a region’s longer-term trend of net deforestation to reforestation. FTs were initially described for historic (19th to early 20th century) examples of industrialising countries in temperate regions (Europe, North America, Japan). In these ‘classic’ studies FTs were typically seen as resulting from economic development under industrial modernization, as well as increased state interventions and policies. FTs have thereby often implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, been equated with transitions to sustainable forest management, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, the regrowing forests were (mostly) not fundamentally different from the types of forests that had existed before the deforestation crisis. Secondly, the modernizing economies meant that relatively few economic losers emerged in rural communities as a result of new regulations on forest uses.

More recently, FTs have also been described for a number of countries in tropical and more arid regions, especially in parts of the Neotropics and in Southern Asia. In terms of simple forest cover change, such ‘new’ FTs have undoubtedly occurred in some southern countries as a result of diverse processes, including economic development, state policies, globalisation, massive plantations, geographic displacement of logging, and others. When described as FT, these new FTs mostly still convey ideas of a ‘sustainability transition’, yet their implications in regards to wider development outcomes remain significantly understudied. Regrowth of ‘forest’ in tropical countries often occurs very slowly in a rather degraded ‘secondary’ form (if natural), or even as an entirely ‘novel forest ecosystem’ (if in exotic plantations). This evidently has various consequences on forest dependent people’s livelihoods as well as the forests’ functions and capacities to provide ecosystem services to communities and national economies. The new FTs not just relate to tree cover increases within forested landscapes, but more essentially to ‘transitions’ in bio-physical characteristics (e.g. forest tree species composition) and associated functionalities and changes in human-environment interactions. In addition to this it may be noted that many of the new FTs are driven by strong state interventions and policies; in many cases the national economies develop in disparate ways whereby rural people often remain critically dependent on resources derived from forestlands.

For this Special Issue of Forests we invite case studies which investigate and document ‘qualitative aspects’ (from ‘good’ to ‘bad’, from ‘further degradation’ to ‘pathways to sustainability’) of ‘new’ FTs.  The scale (country, province, specifically defined region) to which the FT refers should be noted. The studies can be in one or a combination of the following fields: 1.) ‘sustainable forestry’ and forest ecology (including aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem functions), 2.) changes in rural livelihoods and associated sustainability aspects (ranging from ‘food security’ to ethno-cultural heritage), and 3.) ecosystem functions and services, and associated aspects of economic development. While studies from temperate regions may be of interest, we particularly encourage the submission of case studies from southern countries (biodiverse forest ecoregions).

Prof. Dr. Christian A. Kull
Dr. Roland Cochard
Guest Editors

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• Forest transition
• Tropical ecology
• Land system change
• Sustainability
• Livelihoods