Global climate change has been particularly pronounced in mountain regions across the 20th century, reaching twice to three times the temperature increase of the global average. Further climate change is anticipated for the coming decades that will strongly affect mountain regions and thus the delivery of ecosystem services from these areas. Among others, intensified biomass utilization for energy production and the supply of wood-based industries with raw material may increase the pressure on mountain forest ecosystems and may even exceed sustainable production. Conversely, the share of mountain forests with abandoned management is increasing in Europe because (i) commercial forestry may no longer be profitable in some mountain ranges due to the increasing cost of management and/or decreasing revenues from timber production, or (ii) decreasing interest of new landowners in forest management. Beyond jeopardizing the supply of timber-based industries, such developments are highly likely to also affect the provisioning of ES such as the protection against natural hazards or recreational values.
Supra-national sectoral policies and commitments related to biodiversity (e.g., Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD), nature conservation (e.g., the Natura 2000 network via EU Habitat Directive & Birds Directive) and climate change mitigation (e.g., the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC; EU Energy Directive, 2009/28/EC) are likely to affect the provision of ES directly or indirectly, and to interfere with the specific interests of local and regional stakeholders (EU Forest Action Plan 2007-2011). Yet, the sustainable provision of ES in and from mountain regions is of crucial importance to an array of stakeholders and society in general, going much beyond the interests of particular landowners in the mountain regions themselves.
