This Special Issue will present research and case studies from around the world focusing on the interlinkages between forest biodiversity, traditional knowledge, sustainable livelihoods, food security and human health. It will include such topics as: integration of native forest species in traditional agroforestry systems for enhancing their climate resilience; traditional agroecological systems to support food security in the context of climate change; conservation and management of medicinal plant resources and other non-timber forest products based on traditional knowledge for sustainable livelihoods; governance and policy dimensions of integrating traditional and formal knowledge and practices in forest management and human health.
Forest-related traditional knowledge continues to support efforts to conserve and sustainably use forest biodiversity throughout the world, as it has for countless generations. Today, climate change, land degradation, and profound governance, social and economic transformations – all of which are contributing to biodiversity loss – are challenging the capacity of Indigenous and local communities to retain, utilize, and adapt their traditional knowledge in ways that contribute to sustainable development.
This Special Issue will present recent research and case studies from diverse geographical regions around the world that focus on the interlinkages between forest biodiversity, traditional knowledge, sustainable livelihoods, food security and human health. It will include such topics as:
- Integration of native forest species in traditional agroforestry systems as a means of enhancing their climate resilience;
- Traditional agroecological systems contributions to sustainable food production systems in the context of climate change;
- In situ and ex situ conservation and management of medicinal plant resources based on traditional knowledge;
- The role of traditional knowledge about non-timber forest products for sustainable livelihoods in forest landscape management;
- Governance and policy dimensions of integrating traditional and formal knowledge and practices in forest management and human health.
The special issue is organized in collaboration with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Research Group 09.03 on “Forest History and Traditional Knowledge,” within IUFRO Division 9 “Forest Policy and Economics.”