**Preface**

This Special Issue presents 13 noteworthy articles on the economic and societal losses due to environmental impacts on for-estry productivity after restoration. The aim of this issue is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent advances in forest conservation, forest engineering, disaster sociology, and forest policy in various fields. The papers featured in this issue aim to promote a discussion in disaster-resilient forestry between the natural and social sciences. The stark contrast between the four articles from China and the nine articles from Japan is worthy of note. The articles from China focus mainly on the successful reforestation efforts since the 1990s, the relationship between forests and economic development, and the public perception of forests as portrayed in the media. Meanwhile, the papers from Japan focus on the forest management issues that arise during the utilization phase of the forest plantations and on the challenges of managing these plantations. Extensive research has been conducted on forestry operations, optimization of forest resources, and the transformation of mountain communities in re-sponse to climate change and more frequent torrential rain disasters. These disasters need to be analyzed to understand the full scope of their impacts. The economic and social impacts of these disasters are dependent on natural factors such as climate and topography, as well as social structures. As urban areas continue to grow economically, rural areas suffer from depopulation and aging, resulting in significant societal changes that exacerbate the impact of natural disasters. Although they may appear to be two extreme cases, the editorial situates the papers on China and Japan within East Asia, highlighting one country in the early stages of successful government-led afforestation projects and the other country in the mature stage of plantation forests. This provides insight into the forest management challenges facing East Asia, where forest cover has increased.

We would like to thank the authors for their valuable contributions to this Special Issue and all the reviewers for their con-structive comments and suggestions on the submitted manuscripts.

> **Noriko Sato and Tetsuhiko Yoshimura** *Editors*
