Announcements

We are pleased to announce that Forests is collaborating with the ForestDSS CoP and four units of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) on the Special Issue “Spatial Decision Support for Forest Management and Policy Formulation”. The IUFRO units in this collaboration are:

1. Uncertainty analysis, computational ecology, and decision support (Unit 4.03.00);
2. Characterization of uncertainty in forest modelling systems (Unit 4.03.01);
3. Machine learning and computational ecology (Unit 4.03.02);
4. Decision support systems and related information technologies for the sustainable management of forest systems (Unit 4.03.03);
5. Sustainable forest management scheduling (Unit 4.04.04).

Decision support systems for forest management have been steadily evolving since about 1980 in response to growing demand from forest managers for sophisticated analytical systems that can address the complexities of contemporary forest management issues such as adaptive management in the context of managing forest ecosystem sustainability, integrity, and resilience while ensuring the provision of ecosystem services. In this same time frame, there has also been a steady shift in emphasis from stand-level to landscape-level decision support systems, in part driven by the improved ecological understanding of, and appreciation for, the need to account for patterns and processes in forest management and planning.

Accordingly, we set up a 2021 Special Issue on spatial decision support systems and their application to state-of-the-art landscape solutions for forest management and policy formulation. In this initial call, manuscript proposals are invited for original research and review articles addressing:

• Contemporary, state-of-the art systems and their application, emphasizing spatial decision support for either forest management or policy formulation;
• Forward-looking (and perhaps more speculative) articles on how to advance spatial decision support technologies for forest management and policy formulation beyond the current state-of-the-art.

Spatial decision support technologies have evolved in numerous pathways, including knowledge-based, probabilistic, and linear programming systems, as well as combinations of these and other technologies, so articles addressing any of these areas are welcome.

More information about the current call and submission requirements can be found here:
https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/forests/special_issues/decision_support_forest_management_policy.