Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.7
3.3
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Agro-Ecosystem Approaches to Sustainable Land Use and Food Security
sustainability-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Agro-Ecosystem Approaches to Sustainable Land Use and Food Security

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 1361

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Horațiu Felix Arion

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economic Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Manastur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: agribusiness; economy of local food; agri-food value-chain; agritourism; rural tourism; rural development; agrifood management; traditional food; localized food; bioeconomy; rural community government
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Iulia D. Arion

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinaty Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: forestry economics; agritourism; rural development; management; agribusiness; sustainable development; small business; marketing; business efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite contributions to this Special Issue of Sustainability on “Agro-Ecosystem Approaches to Sustainable Land Use and Food Security,” that advance understanding and innovation in how agro-ecosystems can be designed, managed, and transformed to support sustainable development. Ponetial contributors should approach the topic with an understanding that the accelerating pressures of climate change, population growth, urbanization, and biodiversity loss have placed land resources and food systems under increasing stress. Also, ensuring long-term food security while preventing soil degradation, protecting ecosystem services, and supporting rural and peri-urban livelihoods requires integrated approaches that consider ecological, socio-economic, and governance dimensions. It that vision, the purpose of this Special Issue is to provide a platform for advancing knowledge and sharing evidence-based strategies for sustainable land use that contribute directly to improving food security. The Special Issue seeks to support dialog among researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and community actors, fostering approaches that are ecologically grounded, economically viable, and socially equitable.

The Special Issue focuses on agro-ecosystem approaches that enhance the multifunctionality of land use systems, including sustainable farming practices, nature-based solutions, integrated landscape management, and diversified production systems. We aim to highlight methods that strengthen resilience, reduce vulnerability to shocks (such as climate extremes and market instability), enhance nutrient and carbon cycles, preserve biodiversity, and maintain or improve yields over time. We welcome interdisciplinary research integrating ecological science, agronomy, sustainability assessment, socio-economic analysis, policy studies, and stakeholder engagement. Contributions may include empirical case studies, theoretical frameworks, participatory research, decision-support tools, and evaluations of policies and governance arrangements. Studies addressing both rural and urban/peri-urban agro-ecosystems are encouraged, particularly where they reveal insights into land use trade-offs, circular resource flows, and food system resilience.

While the existing literature offers a wide range of analyses on sustainable agriculture and land use, it often remains fragmented between ecological, economic, and policy perspectives. This Special Issue contributes by bringing these dimensions together, emphasizing integrated sustainability assessment, practical measurement and monitoring tools, and implementation pathways. By aligning with Sustainability’s mission, the Special Issue centers on applied solutions and actionable insights that can inform policy development (e.g., the EU’s Green Deal, Farm to Fork Strategy, and SDGs 2, 13, and 15), guide sustainable land management, and support transitions toward resilient food systems. 

Prof. Dr. Horațiu Felix Arion
Dr. Iulia D. Arion
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.

Keywords

  • agro-ecosystems
  • sustainable land use
  • food security
  • climate resilience
  • biodiversity conservation
  • soil health
  • integrated landscape management
  • sustainable agriculture
  • circular food systems
  • socio-ecological transitions

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

38 pages, 620 KB  
Article
Organizational Pathways to Inclusive Agro-Ecosystem Management: Evidence from Smallholder Participation in Kenya’s Agricultural Carbon Market
by Aqi Dong, Peng Li, Shanan Gibson, James Gibson and Lin Zhao
Sustainability 2026, 18(6), 2931; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18062931 - 17 Mar 2026
Viewed by 211
Abstract
Agro-ecosystem approaches are increasingly promoted as integrated solutions for sustainable land use, climate mitigation, and food security, yet concerns remain that market-based instruments may systematically exclude resource-poor smallholder farmers. Using microdata from 8894 households participating in Kenya’s long-running International Small Group and Tree [...] Read more.
Agro-ecosystem approaches are increasingly promoted as integrated solutions for sustainable land use, climate mitigation, and food security, yet concerns remain that market-based instruments may systematically exclude resource-poor smallholder farmers. Using microdata from 8894 households participating in Kenya’s long-running International Small Group and Tree Planting Program, this study examines how institutional and organizational arrangements shape access to agricultural carbon markets and associated sustainable land management practices. We document a participation paradox: farmers in the lowest income quartile exhibit significantly higher adoption than the wealthiest quartile (92.4% vs. 86.3%), challenging conventional resource-based targeting assumptions. Three distinct agro-ecosystem participation pathways are inferred using a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) estimated over a feature set of organizational, financial-access, and farm/household characteristics (income, farm size, financial access, crop diversity, livestock holdings, education, organizational membership, and leadership position). A Mainstream pathway (60.2%) reflects resource-driven adoption; an Innovative pathway (32.4%) is associated with high participation among low-income farmers through organizational membership, leadership, and collective action; and a Constrained pathway (7.5%) captures persistent exclusion. Organizational membership is strongly associated with high-adoption pathways, universally present among Mainstream and Innovative farmers and absent among Constrained farmers; readers should note that membership is partly definitional in the clustering procedure, so this association reflects the pathway construction as well as empirical patterns. Leadership roles are associated with substantially increased access to non-monetary benefit streams (OR = 2.13), including training, seedlings, and community infrastructure. These alternative compensation mechanisms are spatially clustered and strongly associated with enrollment, suggesting localized institutional capacity effects. Importantly, the Innovative pathway is associated with superior agro-ecosystem outcomes, including higher tree densities and a greater uptake of conservation farming practices, suggesting possible complementarities between inclusion and ecological performance. Women are overrepresented within this pathway, highlighting the equity potential of organizational channels. Overall, the findings suggest that strengthening local organizational infrastructure can simultaneously enhance land-use sustainability, climate mitigation, and livelihood inclusion. Given the cross-sectional observational design, all findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects; the results offer actionable insights for designing agro-ecosystem programs that integrate governance, social equity, and ecological resilience in support of long-term food security. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agro-Ecosystem Approaches to Sustainable Land Use and Food Security)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

45 pages, 17559 KB  
Article
The Use of GIS Techniques for Land Use in a South Carpathian River Basin—Case Study: Pesceana River Basin, Romania
by Daniela Mihaela Măceșeanu, Remus Crețan, Ionuț-Adrian Drăguleasa, Amalia Niță and Marius Făgăraș
Sustainability 2026, 18(2), 1134; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18021134 - 22 Jan 2026
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 823
Abstract
This study is essential for medium- and long-term land-use management, as land-use patterns directly influence local economic and social development. Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are fundamental tools for analyzing a wide range of geomorphological processes, including relief fragmentation density, relief energy, soil [...] Read more.
This study is essential for medium- and long-term land-use management, as land-use patterns directly influence local economic and social development. Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are fundamental tools for analyzing a wide range of geomorphological processes, including relief fragmentation density, relief energy, soil texture, slope gradient, and slope orientation. The present research focuses on the Pesceana river basin in the Southern Carpathians, Romania. It addresses three main objectives: (1) to analyze land-use dynamics derived from CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data between 1990 and 2018, along with the long-term distribution of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for the period 2000–2025; (2) to evaluate the basin’s natural potential byintegrating topographic data (contour lines and profiles) with relief fragmentation density, relief energy, vegetation cover, soil texture, slope gradient, aspect, the Stream Power Index (SPI), and the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI); and (3) to assess the spatial distribution of habitat types, characteristic plant associations, and soil properties obtained through field investigations. For the first two research objectives, ArcGIS v. 10.7.2 served as the main tool for geospatial processing. For the third, field data were essential for geolocating soil samples and defining vegetation types across the entire 247 km2 area. The spatiotemporal analysis from 1990 to 2018 reveals a landscape in which deciduous forests clearly dominate; they expanded from an initial area of 80 km2 in 1990 to over 90 km2 in 2012–2018. This increase, together with agricultural expansion, is reflected in the NDVI values after 2000, which show a sharp increase in vegetation density. Interestingly, other categories—such as water bodies, natural grasslands, and industrial areas—barely changed, each consistently representing less than 1 km2 throughout the study period. These findings emphasize the importance of land-use/land-cover (LULC) data within the applied GIS model, which enhances the spatial characterization of geomorphological processes—such as vegetation distribution, soil texture, slope morphology, and relief fragmentation density. This integration allows a realistic assessment of the physical–geographic, landscape, and pedological conditions of the river basin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agro-Ecosystem Approaches to Sustainable Land Use and Food Security)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop