Natural Hazards-Ecological Coupling in High-Cold Regions and Sustainable Development

Introduction:

Global warming is profoundly altering the cryosphere environment in high-altitude cold regions, leading to frequent mountain hazards such as permafrost-related landslides, debris flows, glacial lake outbursts, ice avalanches, and snowslides. These mountain disasters are strongly coupled with cold-region ecosystems: disaster disturbances damage vegetation, soil, and hydrological structures; conversely, ecological degradation exacerbates geotechnical instability, amplifying disaster risks.

Clarifying the coupling mechanisms between high-altitude mountain hazards and ecosystems, and establishing a theoretical and technical framework that integrates disaster prevention, ecological conservation, and regional sustainable development, represents a frontier issue at the intersection of cryospheric science, disaster studies, and ecology.

This special issue invites original research on high-altitude mountain hazards, ecological responses, risk regulation, ecological restoration, and sustainable management, promoting interdisciplinary integration and providing scientific support for ecological security and disaster mitigation in cold mountain regions.

Topics covered:

(1) Formation and evolution, monitoring and early warning, and risk assessment of typical mountain hazards in cold regions

(2) Ecological coupling and reciprocal feedbacks between mountain hazards and Glacier–vegetation–permafrost–hydrological processes

(3) Evolution of mountain hazard chains and compound multi-hazard risks under climate warming

(4) Ecological effects of ecosystem restoration and hazard-mitigation projects, and regional sustainable development in cold regions

(5) Applications of artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and numerical modeling in hazard–ecosystem coupling research

Important Deadlines:

• Submission deadline: 30th April, 2027
• Acceptance deadline: 30th October, 2027

Guest Editors:

• Prof. Qiang  Xu, Chengdu University of Technology, China
• Prof. Shuying Zang, Harbin Normal University, China
• Prof. Lin  Zhao, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China
• Prof. Guoyu Li, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS, China