Policies, Programs and Tools for Conservation and Sustainability in Tropical Landscapes

Dear Colleagues,

Land is a major tissue connecting people and nature. The multiple links between humans and the environment manifested on land, such as agricultural production, watershed management, or infrastructural development, are vital for our societies. However, intensive land use through degrading practices such as large-scale land clearing, agricultural production in unsuitable areas (e.g., steep slopes), mining operations, or urban and livestock expansion near rivers and water sources are leading causes of environmental depletion, which negatively impact the sustainability of our landscapes and the planet. Given the growing global demand for natural resources to sustain increasingly populated and affluent societies worldwide since the dawn of the 21st century, tropical landscapes and ecosystems, such as in Brazil and Indonesia, are under pressure. Public and private initiatives are being implemented to deal with land use changes to achieve sustainable management of natural resources (e.g., selective logging), sustainable agricultural intensification, controlled urban sprawl, and ecosystem restoration. Such policies, programs, and tools aim to reverse degradation trends to conserve and restore biodiversity, but by potentially different means. On the one hand, policy instruments such as payments and other compensations for environmental/ecosystem services act as 'carrots'; on the other hand, restrictive regulations preventing certain activities act as 'sticks'. Understanding the benefits and drawbacks of different land-based policies, programs, and tools for conservation and sustainability in the tropics is vital to ensure their most effective and appropriate application.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights into how land and other land-related natural resources conservation policies, economic tools, and governance instruments (e.g., certifications) contribute to reversing trends of environmental degradation, to fostering forest transitions, to engaging people in land-related conservation programs or stimulating the transition of food production, to more sustainable agricultural systems in tropical landscapes and ecosystems.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Reversing land degradation through environmental policies and programs;
• The utility of policy instruments in shaping land-use decision making;
• Payment for environmental services as tools to foster transitions to sustainable agricultural landscapes;
• Cultural and social factors influencing stakeholder engagement in land-related conservation initiatives;
• Environmental governance effects on Land-use and land-cover change dynamics in the tropics;
• Comparison of conservation approaches for achieving positive sustainability and biodiversity outcomes in tropical landscapes.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Ramon Felipe Bicudo da Silva
Dr. James D.A. Millington
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. 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.

• agricultural landscapes
• payment for environmental services
• land-use change
• conservation policies
• land–environment governance
• tropical ecosystems