Mountain regions provide crucial ecosystem services (ES) to their inhabitants and to the surrounding lowland populations. However, multiple anthropogenic drivers, such as land-use change, climate change, overexploitation, and population growth severely affect mountain socio-ecological systems, with huge effects on ES provision. This Special Issue (SI) collects 29 contributions addressing (i) current research gaps in our understanding of landscape dynamics and their effects on ES, (ii) ES in protected areas, and (iii) new approaches to a holistic assessment of socio-ecological systems. This introduction to the SI summarizes major findings related to (i) the impacts of global change on ES, (ii) the role of protected areas, and (iii) the challenges and research requirements to develop sustainable management strategies for mountain landscapes in the light of current and future challenges. The findings emphasize the specific environmental and cultural characteristics of mountain regions as well as their importance to a large part of the global population. Due to regional differences in socio-ecological characteristics, the needs and values of local communities need to be better integrated into decision-making, supported by inter- and trans-disciplinary cooperation, which would also lead to improved ES provision at the global level.

山区为其居民和周围的低地人口提供了至关重要的生态系统服务（ES）。但是，土地利用变化，气候变化，过度开发和人口增长等多种人为驱动因素严重影响了山区的社会生态系统，对生态系统的提供产生了巨大影响。本期特刊（SI）收集了29篇论文，旨在解决（i）我们对景观动态及其对ES的影响的理解方面的当前研究空白；（ii）保护区中的ES；以及（iii）全面评估社会生态学的新方法系统。SI的简介概述了与（i）全球变化对ES的影响，（ii）保护区的作用，（iii）根据当前和未来的挑战制定山区景观可持续管理策略的挑战和研究要求。调查结果强调了山区的特殊环境和文化特征，以及它们对全球大部分人口的重要性。由于社会生态特征的区域差异，在跨学科和跨学科合作的支持下，需要更好地将地方社区的需求和价值纳入决策，这也将导致全球范围内对环境服务的改进。