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Forests
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Benefits of the Urban Forest under Global Change
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Benefits of the Urban Forest under Global Change

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 (25 September 2019)

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Geoffrey H. Donovan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR, USA
Interests: urban forestry; economics; public health; crime; biodiversity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite authors to submit a paper to a Special Issue of Forests entitled “The Benefits of the Urban Forest under Global Change”. Recent research has identified a range of urban tree benefits including, but not limited to, improved air quality, storm-water management, energy conservation, carbon sequestration, crime prevention, and improved public health. We welcome papers that expand our understanding of the benefits that the urban trees provide us or identify management strategies to optimize these benefits. In particular, we are interested in how management adapts to global changes such as climate change or the spread of invasive species. Papers can be original research, reviews, or commentaries.

Dr. Geoffrey H. Donovan
Guest Editor

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 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.

Keywords

  • Economics
  • Crime
  • Health
  • Climate change
  • Invasive species
  • Carbon
  • Urban Forest

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1149 KiB  
Article
Farmers’ Willingness to Accept Compensation to Maintain the Benefits of Urban Forests
by Xueyan Wang, Jan F Adamowski, Guangda Wang, Jianjun Cao, Guofeng Zhu, Junju Zhou, Chunfang Liu and Xiaogang Dong
Forests 2019, 10(8), 691; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080691 - 15 Aug 2019
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3581
Abstract
The Returning Farmland to Forest Program (RFFP) was implemented in China in 1999 with the goal of supporting environmental restoration by returning significant areas of cultivated land to forest. While afforestation supports long-term ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and the reduction of soil [...] Read more.
The Returning Farmland to Forest Program (RFFP) was implemented in China in 1999 with the goal of supporting environmental restoration by returning significant areas of cultivated land to forest. While afforestation supports long-term ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and the reduction of soil and water loss, it also reduces the amount of available arable land, putting financial pressure on those who depend on it for their livelihoods. In an effort to balance both ecological and economic benefits, regional governments offer financial compensation to farmers to offset these pressures in the form of a dollar amount per hectare of reforested land. The current study explores participants’ willingness to accept pay (WTA), along with the difference between the offered per hectare compensation and the amount deemed acceptable by RFFP participants in the region. To this end, 92 households from the representative afforestation area were surveyed in Huining County, Gansu Province, China - an area of strategic ecological importance in the Loess Plateau. The results showed 12.0% of the surveyed respondents to be satisfied with the current compensation policy, while 88.0% of respondents were not. The respondents’ lower and upper WTA limits were $221/ha/year and $1331/ha/year, respectively, with an average WTA of $777/ha/year. The compensation that respondents would be most willing to accept was distributed in the $444–888/ha/year and the $889–1331/ha/year ranges, accounting for 37.0% and 31.5% of the total responses, respectively. Gender, age, and education were found to be the main factors influencing a respondents’ WTA. Results of the survey suggest that the actual compensation amount ($355/ha/year) is much lower than respondents’ WTA, and that compensation measures and policies should be improved to guarantee a basic income. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Benefits of the Urban Forest under Global Change)
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21 pages, 3643 KiB  
Article
National Forest Parks in China: Origin, Evolution, and Sustainable Development
by Ziru Chen, Weicong Fu, Cecil C. Konijnendijk van den Bosch, Hui Pan, Shuping Huang, Zhipeng Zhu, Yuxuan Qiao, Nannan Wang and Jianwen Dong
Forests 2019, 10(4), 323; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10040323 - 10 Apr 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4097
Abstract
The concept of National Forest Park (NFP) is mainly used in mainland China. Originating in 1982, NFP embodies a “top-down” concept and associated program launched by the Chinese government. It is aimed at promoting forest-based tourism and economic development under the premise of [...] Read more.
The concept of National Forest Park (NFP) is mainly used in mainland China. Originating in 1982, NFP embodies a “top-down” concept and associated program launched by the Chinese government. It is aimed at promoting forest-based tourism and economic development under the premise of protecting forest resources. After 30 years of development, NFPs have made great achievements in protecting specific forest resources, promoting forest-based tourists, promoting regional economic development, and they have gained popularity worldwide. However, due to the fast pace of NFP expansion, lack of predictable planning and innovative thinking, and ineffective governance, some problems like overexploitation, scenic pollution, monotonous development patterns, and ecological degradation associated with NFP constrain its sustainable development. In order to solve these problems effectively, a holistic review of the status of NFPs in China is needed. To help meet this need, the origin, evolution, and current status of NFPs in China were analyzed. The presented research also included retrospective analyses of challenges and opportunities for NFPs sustainable development in China. Results show that from 1982 to 2015, the number of NFPs grew dramatically, and this development occurred in four phases. In addition, NFP development has been unbalanced in regional distribution. When analyzing the evolution of NFPs, the main issues to date have included failure to implement Master Plans in practice, unclear supervisory responsibilities, ambiguous classification, unbalanced distribution, destruction of natural resource and ecosystems, insufficient cultural protection, weak awareness of nature education, lack of resource statistics, monotonous planning, and weak marketing. Study findings can contribute to promoting the sustainable future development of NFPs and support the forest-based tourism industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Benefits of the Urban Forest under Global Change)
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