This book explores and analyzes the dynamic and multifaceted roles that forests play in supporting and accelerating progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development positions forests at the heart of efforts to eradicate poverty, ensure food and water security, combat climate change, and conserve biodiversity. Forests are not only integral to Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land) but also provide cross-cutting contributions to the other SDGs, making them indispensable in the broader landscape of global sustainability. The book emphasizes not only conservation or productivity, but also a holistic understanding of forests as agents of change, ecologically, economically, and socially.

This book features 24 chapters organized around thematic areas including forest-based climate solutions, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, community livelihoods, forest governance, the green economy, and forest health and education linkages. The chapters examine cases, trends, and region-specific challenges while offering practical pathways and recommendations aligned with the SDGs.

Dr. Hukum Singh is a forestry and climate change scientist at the ICFRE-Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India. His academic and research interests span forest ecophysiology, climate change and environment, urban forestry, environmental sustainability, long-term ecological monitoring, greenhouse gas emissions accounting, and forest fire vulnerability. His work emphasizes science-based approaches to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and sustainability, closely aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Singh is a fellow of the British Ecological Society (FBES), Society for Plant Research (FSPR), and the Association of Plant Science Researchers (FAPSR), and an active member of several national and international scientific societies. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, books, and chapters, contributing significantly to the global discourse on forests and climate resilience.