The French national ecosystem assessment (NEA), called EFESE for « Evaluation nationale des écosystèmes et des services écosystémiques » was launched in 2012 by the Ministry of Environment to comply both with European and national requirements. This paper reports on the design and implementation of the French NEA for high mountain systems, which (i) describes mountain ecological systems, (ii) characterizes the multiple ecosystem services they supply, and (iii) discusses the challenges and options related to sustainable governance of French mountain systems. Results highlighted the disproportional positive contribution of mountains to people's well-being, as well as their vulnerability to several drivers of change such as climate change or modification of agricultural practices. Based on the complete report, non-prescriptive key messages were provided as a summary for decision makers. This assessment was run as a participatory process, led by a core scientific working group and involving experts from academic, institutional and NGO structures. In this paper, we describe and discuss the design and implementation of the French mountain NEA and compare it to other international experiences. We believe our experience can support future NEA processes, in France and in other (inter)national settings.

Protected areas manage synergies and trade-offs associated with core missions of nature protection while supporting education, recreation and tourism. In this paper we demonstrate how spatial modelling co-produced with managers can support the assessment of interactions between two cultural services: outdoor recreation and iconic terrestrial vertebrates. In two French national parks (Ecrins and Vanoise) we showed clear seasonal differentiation in spatial patterns for potential iconic vertebrate diversity, recreation opportunities and their interactions. Our first hypothesis that limited access and mobility of recreationists during winter would increase potential wildlife refugia was largely validated for Ecrins. Our second hypothesis that lower but spatially diffuse pressure from recreationists in Ecrins would increase potential interference as compared to more intense but directed activity in Vanoise was consistent with patterns in summer. For winter the spatial concentration of recreation around ski resorts of Vanoise was highly impactful. Across both parks concerns about the expansion of winter activities are legitimate, especially for climate-sensitive species. We also showed the critical role of refuge areas in high valleys (summer) and lower slopes away from tracks (winter), highlighting threats from off-track practices. Beyond regulation our results will support dialogue with the public and professionals based on communication and education. Addressing the challenge of co-managing multiple cultural ecosystem services requires understanding these interactions and their management implications. For this, we need evidence of the spatial distribution of their overlaps (Lautenbach et al., 2019; Plieninger et al.,