Large-scale forestation is key components of nature-based solutions to climate change, playing a vital role in advancing carbon neutrality and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, afforestation efforts extend far beyond simply planting trees. By fundamentally altering land cover, such initiatives drive significant shifts in land-use trajectories and trigger complex, multifaceted effects within regional ecosystems and local economies.

In recent decades, researchers have made significant progress in quantifying planted forest carbon sinks and tracking vegetation dynamics, but there remains a lack of holistic understanding of forestation as a nexus integrating land use, ecosystem services, and socio-economic realities. Expanding forest cover often presents trade-off with food security or water allocation. Furthermore, the long-term success of ecological engineering is rarely determined by environmental conditions slowly; it is significantly constrained by local governance, community livelihoods, and economic incentives. Consequently, we urgently need an interdisciplinary approach to critically evaluate the fundamental sustainability and actual outcomes of the initiatives at both regional and global levels.

Despite significant advancements in monitoring forest expansion and quantifying individual ecosystem services, critical knowledge gaps remain. There is a pressing need to unravel the complex, multi-scale mechanisms that govern the sustainability nexus of forestation across land-use patterns, ecological functions, and socio-economic realities. Additionally, the linkages between short-term vegetation restoration efforts and long-term regional development dynamics, as well as the intricate feedback loops among large-scale land-use transitions, ecosystem service trade-offs, and local community livelihoods, are still poorly understood. This Research Topic aims to address these gaps by integrating interdisciplinary approaches to advance our holistic understanding of large-scale forestation and its profound implications for socio-ecological resilience and sustainable land management.

Objectives

This Research Topic seeks to synthesize cutting-edge research and provide a platform for discussing the multidimensional impacts of forestation. We aim to:

1. Evaluate how large-scale forestation reshapes land-use and land-cover change (LUCC).

2. Investigate the relationships among critical ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, hydrological regulation, and biodiversity conservation) under different forestation scenarios.

3. Analyze the impact of forestation on community livelihoods, regional economic resilience, and social equity.

4. Provide data-driven, practical management strategies and guide more equitable and scientifically sound ecological engineering projects.

5. Identify sustainable forestation practices to enhance ecosystem services and socio-economics.

Potential themes include, but are not limited to:

1. Assess historical land-use trajectories driven by forestation and resolving future spatial planning conflicts

2. Uncover carbon-water trade-offs, soil health evolution, and biodiversity shifts during forest expansion

3. Empirical evaluations of how practical forestation programs (e.g., payment for ecosystem services, carbon markets) shape rural livelihoods and poverty alleviation

4. Combining remote sensing, machine learning, socio-economic surveys, or macroeconomic modeling to capture systemic impact of forestation

5. Developing localized forestation models that balance ecological and economic goals

6. Evaluate practical forestation management frameworks incorporating multi-stakeholder participation to ensure long-term viability

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Exploring the Sustainability Nexus of Forestation: Impacts on Land Use, Ecosystem Services, and Socio-Economics