Current climate and environmental changes have brought unprecedented rates of change to mountain ecosystems. These changes are impacting the provisioning of ecosystem services. Despite the increase in academic publications on ecosystem services, research on cultural ecosystem services (CES) and their availability in mountain regions has largely been neglected. Here we analyse how important different CES are for inhabitants and visitors in the Lower Engadine region (Switzerland). We use questionnaires and maps to identify the most important CES for individual and collective wellbeing as well as their geographical location in the region. We had 48 participants in this study of which 28 grew up in the Lower Engadine. Our results show that the most important (i.e., ‘Highly important’) CES are: ‘The view of mountains, rivers or glaciers’; the presence of plants typical for the region, for example Fire Lily and Edelweiss (i.e., Lilium bulbiliferum subsp. croceum, Edelweiss-Leontopodium alpinum); ‘Hiking’; ‘Local customs’; ‘Watching large mammals’; and the importance of ‘Terraces for traditional Agriculture activities’. Results from the spatial analysis show that identical geographical locations in the Lower Engadine provide multiple CES and bring health benefits to the users.

Anthropogenic climate change has an unprecedented impact on ecosystems and their services, with severe consequences for human well‐being, particularly for the marginalised and vulnerable members of society in the Global South. The well‐being of communities relies not only on material and regulating services ecosystems provide but also on non‐material services. In this paper, we unravel the diverse ways that climate change impacts affect Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) and the well‐being of rural populations in four sites in Madagascar—a biodiversity hotspot but one of the economically poorest countries in the world. We conducted participatory community workshops, mapping and semi‐structured interviews with local residents across social subgroups to understand the mechanisms of climate‐related degradation and the resulting impacts on different dimensions of human well‐being through an NCP lens. We found that non‐material services are generally more often associated with well‐being effects. Climate change degrades material and non‐material services through sea level rise, biodiversity loss, drought, precipitation and temperature variability, with consequences for materials, companionship and labour, food and feed, and physical and psychological experiences. Loss of land and forests is expressed through ecological grief. The outcome of our research provides evidence‐based information to local policymakers, conservation practitioners, and climate change agencies. This information can help improve government efforts toward holistic conservation and climate change adaptation by addressing the impacts on the physical and mental well‐being of the most vulnerable communities. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Biosphere Reserves have the mandate to foster the relationship between people and nature, which can benefit people in a variety of ways, including both physical and mental health. With about 16% of the global population, people with disabilities are a significant group of people who, so far, have received limited attention for their needs in research and in discussions about how people relate to nature. We have reviewed accessibility measures in 167 Biosphere Reserves in 18 countries in Europe and North America. We find that accessibility is considered in 58% of cases with at least one measure. However, measures are mainly focused on accessibility for physical disabilities by providing access through infrastructures. We highlight a variety of measures that have been implemented and tested already today in the Biosphere Reserve to serve different needs of a variety of disabilities. In this perspective piece, we aim to illustrate challenges, but also the possibilities that we find to make nature more accessible. Thus, it is necessary to highlight the multi‐dimensionality of disabilities and the need for plural measures to foster just access to protected areas. With this piece, we ultimately aim to start a conversation in the research field of sustainability science that considers a marginalized group that most people will join (temporarily) at some point in their lives: people with disabilities. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

We gave young scientists this prompt: Describe one change to scientific policy or culture that would substantially decrease incidents of scientific misconduct or other unethical behavior.