Forests and People in Transition: Social–Ecological Dynamics of Use, Conservation, and Participation

Forests are increasingly recognized not only as ecological systems but also as complex social–ecological systems shaped by continuous interactions between humans and nature. Under accelerating global change — climate change, urbanization, biodiversity loss, and socio-economic transformation — the relationships between people and forests are becoming more dynamic, multidimensional, and contested. These human–forest interactions span livelihood dependence, governance and participation, conservation practices, cultural values, and behavioral drivers, and they are mediated by institutional arrangements, power structures, knowledge systems, and socio-demographic characteristics. Forests act both as providers of ecosystem services and as arenas for social learning, collective action, and environmental decision-making.

Despite a growing body of literature, existing research often remains fragmented across disciplines such as forestry, environmental psychology, political ecology, and sustainability science. There is a clear need for an integrative platform that brings together diverse perspectives to understand how human dimensions influence forest outcomes — and vice versa — across spatial scales (local to global) and social scales (individual to institutional).

This Research Topic aims to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on human–forest relationships, with particular emphasis on how these interactions shape, and are shaped by, global environmental change. Specifically, it seeks to:

o Integrate interdisciplinary perspectives on human–forest interactions across ecological, social, and behavioral domains.

o Advance theoretical frameworks that explain the reciprocal relationships between people and forests, including multi-level and dyadic approaches.

o Provide empirical evidence from diverse geographic and socio-economic contexts, particularly underrepresented regions.

o Inform policy and practice by identifying effective strategies for sustainable forest management and conservation.

o Highlight the role of human agency in shaping forest resilience under global environmental change.

Article types. We welcome Original Research, Review, and Perspective articles, in line with the accepted article types of the host journal.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Human–forest interactions; forest livelihoods; participation; conservation behavior; social learning; urban forests; governance; pro-environmental behavior; global change; sustainability

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.