Differences in the experience of cultural ecosystem services in mountain protected areas by clusters of visitors

Protected Areas contribute to the conservation of nature with associated cultural ecosystem services (CES) and values, such as recreational and educational opportunities, wildlife observation, scenic beauty, inspiration and sense of belonging. Informed management of Protected Areas needs to consider the distinct use and preferences for CES of different types of visitors to increase opportunities for nature experience while avoiding conflicts with biodiversity conservation. Therefore, it is important to understand the linkages between visitor characteristics and their demand for specific sets of CES, particularly in fragile mountain ecosystems. Here we do so by combining information from individual on-site surveys and participatory mapping of visitors in four European mountain Protected Areas. We analysed visitors’ frequency of use of eight CES and their socio-demographic information, identifying three clusters of visitors. We also assessed the spatial distribution of CES locations used by each visitor cluster. Our results highlight strong differences between clusters both in the most frequently experienced CES and in the spatial location where those CES were experienced. We suggest that a better understanding of visitors regarding the way they experience nature is relevant for the environmental management of mountain Protected Areas and their surroundings.

This project was partly made possible by the EU H2020 project ECOPOTENTIAL and we gratefully acknowledge the support of iDiv funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG– FZT 118, 202548816). MFL contract was partially supported by the RYC2021-032828-I grant, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR». A.S.V. acknowledges support from FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through the program Stimulus for Scientific Employment – Individual Support [contract reference 2020.01175.CEECIND], and through project ClimateMedia [contract reference 2022.06965.PTDC], as well as from the EarthCul Project [reference PID2020-118041GB-I00], funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Claudia Carvalho-Santos is supported by the “Financiamento Programático” UIDP/04050/2020 funded by national funds through the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P. Ana Paula Portela was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through a doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BD/115030/2016) co-financed by the European Social Fund, the Human Capital Operational Program (POCH), the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020) and national funds from Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior. This paper contributes to the GEO BON working group on Ecosystem Services.

Peer reviewed