The global human population is nearing about 8 billion, making biodiversity conservation a significant challenge worldwide. Besides the uneven distribution of human population and natural resources, there is an increasing demand for land to be utilized in food production, urban expansion, and infrastructure development, making land-use choice particularly challenging in recent years. In tropical regions, where biodiversity is the greatest and many countries have limited capacity for conservation, the conservation of forest and biodiversity is even more challenging. A large number of people in those countries depend on biodiversity for their subsistence and income and are often poorly recognized in local land-use and conservation policies. There is also a lack of knowledge on ecosystem services (and dis-services) of biodiversity change and policies that are necessary for a sustainable transformation in this region.
This Research Topic aims to document the challenges of biodiversity conservation in a rapidly changing world. Globally, biodiversity is at risk due to increasing land-use pressure, competition, conflict, and ecosystem dis-services, etc. This takes place mainly in biodiversity hotspots and tropical developing countries where conservation efforts are limited.
In this Research Topic, we seek to understand how the conversion of land for agriculture, urban expansion, and infrastructure development affects the conservation of biodiversity, the conflicts between biodiversity, local livelihood, and land-use policies, and what synergies are necessary to minimize biodiversity loss while achieving other sustainable development goals. We encourage integrated and interdisciplinary studies, including case studies, policy assessments, sustainability studies, etc.
Although we are especially interested in studies from tropical developing countries, contributions from all regions of the world are welcome. Tropical forests comprise nearly 50% of the global forest coverage, with a high rate of deforestation. Anthropogenic pressure and biotic and abiotic factors in tropical regions also make them vulnerable to biodiversity loss. Merely giving protection to ecosystems cannot conserve all forms of biodiversity hence, there is the need to expand the conservation approach beyond the boundaries of the forests and protected landscapes. The good practices developed historically, traditionally, or indigenously towards conserving biodiversity need to be decoded with proper scientific investigation. This Research Topic aims to bring scientific articles with the assemblage of modern approaches and traditional ones developed based on vast ecological knowledge in the tropical regions for offering win-win solutions for biodiversity conservation and sustainable socio-ecological development.
The global human population is nearing about 8 billion, making biodiversity conservation a significant challenge worldwide. Besides the uneven distribution of human population and natural resources, there is an increasing demand for land to be utilized in food production, urban expansion, and infrastructure development, making land-use choice particularly challenging in recent years. In tropical regions, where biodiversity is the greatest and many countries have limited capacity for conservation, the conservation of forest and biodiversity is even more challenging. A large number of people in those countries depend on biodiversity for their subsistence and income and are often poorly recognized in local land-use and conservation policies. There is also a lack of knowledge on ecosystem services (and dis-services) of biodiversity change and policies that are necessary for a sustainable transformation in this region.
This Research Topic aims to document the challenges of biodiversity conservation in a rapidly changing world. Globally, biodiversity is at risk due to increasing land-use pressure, competition, conflict, and ecosystem dis-services, etc. This takes place mainly in biodiversity hotspots and tropical developing countries where conservation efforts are limited.
In this Research Topic, we seek to understand how the conversion of land for agriculture, urban expansion, and infrastructure development affects the conservation of biodiversity, the conflicts between biodiversity, local livelihood, and land-use policies, and what synergies are necessary to minimize biodiversity loss while achieving other sustainable development goals. We encourage integrated and interdisciplinary studies, including case studies, policy assessments, sustainability studies, etc.
Although we are especially interested in studies from tropical developing countries, contributions from all regions of the world are welcome. Tropical forests comprise nearly 50% of the global forest coverage, with a high rate of deforestation. Anthropogenic pressure and biotic and abiotic factors in tropical regions also make them vulnerable to biodiversity loss. Merely giving protection to ecosystems cannot conserve all forms of biodiversity hence, there is the need to expand the conservation approach beyond the boundaries of the forests and protected landscapes. The good practices developed historically, traditionally, or indigenously towards conserving biodiversity need to be decoded with proper scientific investigation. This Research Topic aims to bring scientific articles with the assemblage of modern approaches and traditional ones developed based on vast ecological knowledge in the tropical regions for offering win-win solutions for biodiversity conservation and sustainable socio-ecological development.