he Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week, entitled “Forest and Ecosystem Restoration for the next Mediterranean Generations", took place from 21 to 25 March 2022 in Antalya, Türkiye. The Mediterranean Forest Week gathered more than 150 public and private sector representatives, national and local governments, technical and scientific organizations, forestry experts and managers, environmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), young professionals, media, scientists and academics, and stakeholders from forest-related sectors coming from 14 countries, all of which contribute in setting up a shared vision for the Mediterranean forests in this event.

This issue of Unasylva will be dedicated to the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean region. Ten years after the last issue on Mediterranean forests, this volume will provide a status of Mediterranean forest resources with a specific focus on restoration efforts, recent developments, and opportunities to achieve regional and global pledges. It will also highlight Mediterranean restoration efforts that the UN Decade wants to promote on a global scale.

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has emerged as one of the most promising remote sensing technologies to provide data for research and operational applications in a wide range of disciplines related to management of forest ecosystems. This book provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of the research and application of ALS in a broad range of forest-related disciplines, especially forest inventory and forest ecology. However, this book is more than just a collection of individual contributions – it consists of a well-composed blend of chapters dealing with fundamental methodological issues and contributions reviewing and illustrating the use of ALS within various domains of application. The reviews provide a comprehensive and unique overview of recent research and applications that researchers, students and practitioners in forest remote sensing and forest ecosystem assessment should consider as a useful reference text.