Optimisation of Environmental, Economic and Social Impacts in Natural Resource Management

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce this Special Issue of Land entitled “Optimisation of Environmental, Economic and Social Impacts in Natural Resource Management”, which is a development of a previous Special Issue on “The Socio-Economic Values in Land Resource Management”.

The concept of the integrated management of natural resources is essential for balanced development in vulnerable areas. Its definition emphasises that it is a process "that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to achieve the greatest possible economic and social well-being equitably, without jeopardising the sustainability of vital ecosystems." The coordination of all these factors is very complex, so the failure to meet the goals of the various strategies and conventions is not unexpected. Despite the fact that much experience in the implementation of various measures has been gained throughout history, due to inadequate research of natural resources and material routes, in some places, larger areas are protected from exploitation or more emphasis is placed on economic exploitation than on the environmental or social effects of resource use, than should be the case, which burdens various factors of development in the mentioned areas, especially water management, agriculture and healthcare.

From the point of view of integrated and sustainable management, it is also necessary to take into account economic measures, which, by raising the price of production, represent a particular burden at different scales for the sectors affected. States and the international community compensate for this to some extent by investing money from the budget or collecting dedicated funds in the form of levies, according to the principle that it is the perpetrator who should pay. The amounts for this purpose are measured in millions, and the effects are not always convincingly positive. The direct connections between the social, economic and environmental effectiveness of measures to protect natural resources are poorly researched. The most significant limitation in the optimisation of environmental, economic and social impacts in natural resource management is often in the data (data are not collected or are collected too rarely; they are often modified or collected under the control of the client, and independent research is often poorly received by the participants, whether they be the state or private owners) and in undefined methodologies based on various indicators and indices, the reliability of which is as satisfactory as the quality of data on which they are based.

This Special Issue aims to present various approaches and methodologies that enable the evaluation of the effects of various environmental, economic and social measures in search of their optimisation in order to achieve the most equitable distribution of burdens and successes of various sectors in the transition to a society that makes sustainable use of natural resources.

• Socio-economic natural resources management;
• The covernance and policy of natural resources;
• Sustainable development goals;
• The ecosystem services of natural resources;
• Relationships between environmental, social and economic opportunities and needs;
• The pollution of natural resources;
• The overexploitation of natural resources;
• Natural resources and conflicts in society;
• Examples of sustainable natural resources management.

Dr. Matjaž Glavan
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. Land 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.

• natural resources management
• societal needs
• economic opportunities
• sustainable development goals
• environmental impacts

• The Socio-Economic Values in Land Resource Management in Land (11 articles)