Forests and Nature Tourism: Navigating Conservation, Recreation, and Change in the Anthropocene

Dear Colleagues,

The Anthropocene is a period of unprecedented and pervasive change in the planetary biosphere. Accelerating the loss of species, simplification and collapse of ecosystems, and loss of evolutionary pathways are major trends in the Anthropocene biosphere, and forest ecosystems, particularly larger and old-growth forests, are disproportionately affected. The situation is alarming because forests are the main refugia for global biodiversity, including many species currently unknown to science. They offer vital services as carbon sinks and freshwater sources while also sustaining tourism and recreation. The recreation angle deserves particular attention because simplification and fragmentation of entire forest ecosystems due to rapid deforestation, species loss, and alteration of major biogeochemical flows are fundamentally altering forests at the planetary level, and this transition could potentially deprive future generations from enjoying ecosystem services and recreation benefits on an increasingly hotter, congested, and less resilient planet. This situation frames the need for a deeper understanding of human interactions with forests and for addressing the challenges to their conservation and sustainable recreation opportunities. While forest ecosystems, communities, and conservation challenges have all been separate research issues for some time now, there is an urgent need for an overall analysis of the rapidly changing forests of the Anthropocene and their increasingly uncertain recreation roles. In addition, there is the renewed importance to revisit forest conservation and integrity angles and to understand how tourism and conservation could align on a rapidly changing planet.

This Special Issue aims to analyze both the broad trajectories of change in forest ecosystems, as well as specific conservation challenges and recreation issues related to forests and reflects on the relationship between nature-based tourism and the threatened natural forests of the Anthropocene biosphere. The papers featured in this Special Issue may summarize planetary, regional, or biome-level trends, as well as focus on specific case studies involving forest ecosystem assessment, vulnerability and resilience assessment, management analyses, recreation potential and threat scenarios, and novel approaches/methodologies that can meaningfully address these issues.

The following key areas constitute cutting-edge research approaches in this field:

1. Telecoupling in complex systems: From this perspective, forest ecosystems are a part of the wider Earth system and are telecoupled with other parts.
2. Ecological integrity: This perspective aims to analyze whether the full suite of biophysical processes and evolutionary pathways are being conserved at the ecosystem level or the challenges for their conservation.
3. Ecological footprint assessment: This method can be helpful for assessing the ecological footprint of nature tourism.
4. Geologic timescale: Such studies shed light on long-term geological phenomena such as orogeny and the development of forests (for example, Amazonia).
5. Treeline change in historical and geological times: In some parts of the planet, previously low-latitude or lower elevation forest variants are expanding, affecting local vegetation (for example, the Arctic and high mountains).
6. Adaptive management: While adaptive management risks being outdated as the goal of adaption is unclear in the Anthropocene, research in this area can still meaningfully inform policies regarding conservation and recreation.
7. Technology and innovation: Advances in technology, such as remote sensing and big data analytics, are being used to monitor forest health, track tourist behavior, and inform decision-making processes.

This Special Issue is soliciting papers that contribute to the understanding of forests and nature tourism from a range of perspectives, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Assessment of forests as a part of the Earth system and assessment involving the geological timescale.
• Histories and current scenarios of deforestation, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss, climate change vulnerability of forests, and endangered species/ecosystems.
• Ecological integrity of forest ecosystems and implications for nature tourism.
• Old-growth/natural forests and their biodiversity/ecosystem services.
• Watershed-level analyses—or other types of broad spatial analysis—of forests.
• Rainforest tourism and other forms of forest/wildlife tourism.
• Change in forest recreation services and community perspectives.
• Indigenous knowledge and value systems associated with forests.
• Case studies of wildlife or other resource exploitation, management challenges, and implications for nature tourism.
• Case studies that highlight successful strategies for sustainable nature tourism and conservation.
• Theoretical and conceptual papers and interdisciplinary studies that explore new frameworks and models for understanding the relationship between forests, nature tourism, and the Anthropocene.

Dr. Abhik Chakraborty
Dr. Young-joo Ahn
Guest Editors

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.

• forest ecosystems
• conservation
• ecological integrity
• habitat fragmentation
• nature-based tourism
• climate change adaptation
• stakeholder engagement
• biodiversity protection
• environmental impact assessment
• anthropocene