Contribution of Forestry Ecological Restoration Projects to the Realization of Sustainable Development Goals

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, global ecosystems have continued to degrade as a result of the combined effects of human activities and climate change, seriously affecting sustainable economic and social development. In order to protect and restore ecosystems, countries around the world have implemented a series of unprecedented forestry ecological restoration projects (FERPs). For example, the Prairie States Forestry Project in the United States, the Green Plan in Canada, the Green Dam Project in North Africa, the Natural Resources Management Project in Indonesia, the National Greening Project in South Korea, the National Afforestation Project in Vietnam, the Sloping Land Conversion Project and Natural Forest Conservation Project in China, etc.

FERPs are not only an important way to achieve the 15th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of the United Nations but it is also closely linked to many other SDGs. For example, China's Sloping Land Conversion Project (SLCP), on the one hand, curbed land degradation and restored ecology by stopping farming on steep slopes and planting trees (SDG 15). On the other hand, although SLCP leads to a reduction in cultivated land, it pushes farmers to shift from rough agricultural production methods to intensive management, which not only improves food production and ensures food security (SDG 2) but also promotes farmers to increase their income and realize sustainable economic growth (SDG 8).

Based on this, it is essential for us to evaluate the eco-environmental and socio-economic effects of FERPs and to summarize the lessons learned during their implementation so as to provide reference and guidance for other countries in the world to adjust their FERP implementation programs on a rolling basis, guarantee the effectiveness of the project's implementation, and making the deployment of subsequent FERPs scientifically and spatially targeted, thereby ultimately contributing to the realization of the SDGs.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of important research in the following areas: (1) theoretical logic, implementation framework, and research progress of FERPs for the realization of SDGs; (2) evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on terrestrial ecosystems (including land cover, vegetation cover, ecosystem services, etc.) in the context of the SDGs; (2) evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on environmental impacts (including air pollution, water purification, carbon emissions, etc.) in the context of the SDGs; (3) evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on socio-economic impacts (including farm household income, rural economic structure, food security, etc.) in the context of the SDGs; and (4) evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on cutting-edge methods (including causal inference, AI, etc.).

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Theoretical logic, implementation framework, and research progress of FERPs for the realization of SDGs;
• Evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on terrestrial ecosystems (including land cover, vegetation cover, ecosystem services, etc.) in the context of the SDGs;
• Evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on environmental impacts (including air pollution, water purification, carbon emissions, etc.) in the context of the SDGs;
• Evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on socio-economic impacts (including farm household income, rural economic structure, food security, etc.) in the context of the SDGs;
• Evaluation of the impacts of FERPs on cutting-edge methods (including causal inference, AI, etc.).

Prof. Dr. Shunbo Yao
Guest Editor

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• forestry ecological restoration projects (FERPs)
• eco-environmental effects
• socio-economic effects
• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• experience in forestry ecological restoration
• forestry policy evaluation