We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Víctor Resco has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Natural Hazards and Risk Management” in Forests (ISSN: 1999-4907).

Prof. Dr. Víctor Resco de Dios is an Associate Professor of Forest Engineering at the University of Lleida (Spain) and he also works with the Southwest University of Science and Technology (China). He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming (USA) and has previously been a faculty member at the University of Castilla-la Mancha (Spain) and at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Australia). He has written one book on forest fires and over 100 scientific articles, and is currently listed as a highly cited scientist in Biology in the Scopus ranking. He is a fire scientist working at the biosphere–atmosphere interface. More specifically, he seeks to understand plant–drought–fire interactions from a physiological perspective and their spatial and temporal upscaling to anticipate changes in fire regimes under global change and in developing sustainable fire management strategies. He is regularly asked for comments on wildfire issues from the press globally.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Víctor Resco de Dios, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Editor-in-Chief?

Forests has established itself as a major journal in the field of forestry, at least in terms of the number of papers published. As a forest fires scientist, I think this is a great opportunity to provide service for the community in such an important journal by leading the Section on “Natural Hazards and Risk Management".

2. What is your vision for the journal?

Wildfires, landslides, windthrow, and many other natural disturbances are modulated by forests and their management. However, we were missing a foresty journal specialized in this field. I hope this new Section within Forests will contribute to fill in this gap by specializing on this up and coming field.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

Global change, a process that includes climate change, changes in forest management, and many other processes, is altering the frequency and distribution of many natural hazards and how we manage them. I see global change responses as agenda setting, and the challenge lies in embedding natural risk management within both ecologically and economically sustainable forest management.

4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?

Open access is now very firmly established. It has solved some of the problems associated with conventional publishing. The challenge now lies in ensuring that efficient publishing is continued without becoming a burden for scientists who may face difficulties affording the publication fees.

We wish Prof. Dr. Víctor Resco de Dios every success in his new position, and we look forward to his contributions to the journal.