Biodiversity and Conservation - Cultural Forests for Landscape-Scale Biodiversity Conservation
Guest Editor
Mauro Agnoletti, Institute of Higher Education, University of Florence, Italy
Theme & Objective
Cultural forests can be defined as forests presenting features resulting from human influence overtime in terms of density, species composition, vertical and horizontal structure, resulting from past management forms. Traditional practices applied through the centuries to forests all over the world, allowed rural communities to sustainably obtain multiple products and services, at the same time, preserving differentiated forest. The application of traditional forest-related knowledge has contributed to the creation and preservation of a wide range of forest types and structures, and therefore, of different habitats that hosts a large variety of flora and fauna species.
In the last 50 years the abandonment of traditional forest management in many parts of the world combined with the abandonment of cultivated or grazed spaces especially in Europe, has led to the homogenization and simplification of the forest landscapes. This trend has caused the decrease and/or loss of the variety of habitats related to traditional forest management and therefore to the decrease of biodiversity at landscape scale. In view of the growing pressure on forest ecosystems due to the growth of the population and to economic development it is necessary to study cases where human activities have been capable of providing product and benefits to the local communities in a sustainable way.
The aim of the special issue is to solicit papers from different parts of the world dealing with, but not limited to, the following topics: cultural forests and biodiversity assessment, traditional forest practices for landscape-scale biodiversity preservation, biodiversity assessment and evaluation in forest landscapes, forest/agriculture and/or forest-pastures ecotones. Some of the contributions will support United Nation Sustainable Development Goals 1: No Poverty (this opens in a new tab), 2: Zero Hunger (this opens in a new tab), 3: Good Health & Well-being (this opens in a new tab), 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth (this opens in a new tab), 13: Climate Action (this opens in a new tab), and 15: Life on Land (this opens in a new tab).
Students and Early Career Researchers (this opens in a new tab) are also encouraged to submit.
Pre-submission enquiries are welcome.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 31, 2024
- Please follow the submission guidelines (this opens in a new tab) and our checklist (this opens in a new tab).
- Please submit online via SNAPP (this opens in a new tab) and select article type “Special Issue: Cultural Forests for Landscape-Scale Biodiversity Conservation”.
EXPECTED PUBLICATION: Late 2024
(Accepted articles will be made available Online First (this opens in a new tab) on an ongoing basis.)
About the Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Mauro Agnoletti is UNESCO chair on Agricultural heritage landscapes, Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florence where he teaches Landscape planning and Environmental History. He is also the coordinator of the National Register of Historical Rural Landscapes of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forest Policies. Prof. Dr. Agnoletti is a scientific expert of the Council of Europe, CBD, FAO, IUFRO. He is the Series Editor of Environmental History (this opens in a new tab) (Springer).
Contact Information
Mauro Agnoletti
Institute of Higher Education
University of Florence
Italy
mauro.agnoletti@unifi.it (this opens in a new tab)
@mauroagnoletti (this opens in a new tab)
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