Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem services of mountain lakes in the European Alps

Mountain lakes are affected by anthropogenic use and global change, which necessitates management strategies to ensure their conservation and provision of ecosystem services (ES). However, research on ES of mountain lakes is scarce and related stakeholder perspectives remain unexplored. This study identifies key ES of mountain lakes and explores how stakeholders perceive the importance of these ES and their contributions to human well-being. A mixed-methods approach based on socio-cultural valuation methods was adopted consulting diverse stakeholders from governmental, economic, research, and public sectors in South Tyrol (Italy) in the Central European Alps. The results indicate that the highest importance was attributed to the ES maintaining habitats as well as aesthetic value, followed by surface water, outdoor recreation, and representation & entertainment. Stakeholders’ perspectives on these ES were multi-faceted covering diverse benefits, senses of place as well as notions of care and stewardship, but also negative perceptions and trade-offs related to cultural ES emerged. We discuss these findings outlining implications for research and practice. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of participatory and socio-cultural assessment approaches to foster context-specific ES understanding and presents a first step towards the integrative assessment of mountain lakes.