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• We present a framework for identifying the optimal landscape configuration for multifunctionality. • The optimal configuration can be predicted from the response of individual services to local and landscape factors. • We show that services sharing the same optimal landscape configuration strategy form management bundles. Increased pressure on land resources to provide multiple benefits calls for landscape strategies that optimize the supply of multiple ecosystem services (ES). Previous research into the drivers of landscape multifunctionality have focused on land use composition changes, but the spatial configuration of different land use types also drives ES supply. While the impact of landscape configuration on individual ES is well understood, the net outcome of these influences when considering many ES is not. Here we present the net-balance spatial interactions hypothesis, which posits that the strength and direction of local and surrounding landscape influences on the local supply of an individual ES will drive its optimal landscape configuration. Accordingly, the net balance of these influences across multiple prioritized ES will determine the optimal configuration for landscape multifunctionality. Further, ES that share the same optimal configuration strategy form a bundle that can be managed together. Using data from German grasslands we demonstrate that the net-balance spatial interactions hypothesis is applicable to land-use planning scenarios that aim to maximize multiple ES. It allows general rules to be applied when local, detailed ES data is not available, and can help identify the best option to minimize trade-offs in the face of multiple competing land-use objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Among the first studies to investigate public perceptions of ecosystem services provided by pondscapes. • The impacts of pondscapes on human health are more appreciated by residents than their impacts on ecosystem health. • Urban residents more preferred to maintain pondscapes than rural residents. • A transitional landscape offering win–win solutions for ecological and human health is preferred by all residents. Pondscapes, a type of multifunctional landscape that frequently embodies traditional wisdom, possess a significant potential to inspire ecological design and advance sustainability. Nevertheless, their significance to human well-being was not fully acknowledged during China's urbanization process, leading to the abandonment, filling, or alteration of numerous pondscapes and the loss of the ecosystem services they offered. Public perceptions of these landscapes have yet to be investigated. Taking the case of Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing, China, this study sought to explore public perceptions of pondscapes' services for ecosystem and human health, pondscapes loss, and preferences for future pondscape applications. Three resident groups, representing diverse experiences with pondscapes - rural residents, urban locals, and urban immigrants - were compared. Second-order clustering, descriptive statistical analysis, non-parametric tests, and correspondence analysis were applied. As anticipated, indivicuals with varying urbanization backgrounds held varying attitudes and preferences towards traditional pondscapes. The perceived importance of pondscapes for ecosystem health was consistent among all groups, but urban residents viewed their impact on human health as more significant than rural residents did. Rural residents tended to be less concerned about pondscape loss, while urban residents preferred to preserve them. In general, all three groups yearned for a landscape combining modernization and tradition: a transitional landscape representing a win–win solution that considers ecological and human health. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications for the transformation of multifunctional landscapes embodying traditional wisdom in modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of current challenges for sustaining human well-being, there is a need for multifunctional landscapes, where land can be allocated to economic activities while minimizing negative externalities. The framework of spatial conservation prioritization (SCP) can be used to identify areas of outstanding ecosystem services (ES) provision, and inform the allocation of different land uses. We present a methodological approach that uses the SCP framework to integrate ES in land-use planning, and apply it to a case study in Uruguay, South America. As in many parts of the world available information on ES is scarce, we generate models of ES provision using spatial multicriteria modeling supported on expert elicitation, to identify areas suitable for agriculture and afforestation, where land use changes have lowest impact on environmental quality. Our results provide a ranking of the landscape that might be used to promote the expansion of these activities in some areas while discouraging it in others in order to achieve sustainability. This approach might be particularly useful for informing Strategic Environmental Assessments, aimed at balancing productive activities with environmental protection. Our study shows that by taking into account ES provision, land uses can be allocated in areas that maximize yields, while reducing their negative environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Valued ecosystem services are distributed across a montane heterogeneous landscape. • Closed forests and riparian areas supply high levels of multiple ecosystem services. • Spatially separated land uses with contrasting service supply complement each other. • Ecosystem service hotspots can support both local livelihoods and conservation goals. • Multifunctional landscapes can reduce service trade-offs and stakeholder conflicts. Ecosystem service (ES) assessments, which make an explicit link between nature and people's well-being, can support the management of natural protected areas that face complex and persistent sustainability challenges. We present a case study of ES supply in a biosphere reserve community in southern Mexico. We aimed to identify stakeholder-relevant ES and to analyse trade-offs between them. After engaging local stakeholders, we conducted a biophysical assessment of ES supply and associations across four different land uses. Closed forests and riparian areas, which occurred in different parts of the landscape, supplied high levels of multiple ES. Furthermore, co-produced farming goods and services that supported local livelihoods and conservation-oriented ecosystem services coincided in these four habitats. Together, these habitats provided a diverse array of ES across the landscape, indicating that stakeholders benefited from a multifunctional landscape. At the same time significant trade-offs were found in the supply of forage cover against most other ES, especially tree-based goods and services. These trade-offs revealed conflicts between agricultural land and neighbouring open forests and riparian areas, as well as opposed service demands among beneficiary groups. To address these trade-offs, stakeholders agreed on enhancing forest benefits in order to support both local livelihoods and conservation goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• People don't always have access to the ecosystem services they would ideally like to. • We develop a process to identify actions to improve service provision with citizens. • Citizens identify actions that consider trade-offs and reduce potential for conflict. Discrepancies between desired ecosystem services (the types, amounts and qualities of services a person would ideally like to benefit from) and the actual provision of ecosystem services (services actually obtained) reflect people's inability to receive the benefits they would like from nature, and can lead to conflict. We developed a novel process that combined stakeholder analysis, a survey, and a workshop to generate information about discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services, and facilitate community-based development of ideas for actions to reduce these discrepancies. We applied this process in a region of Quebec, Canada, where our results show how community members benefit from numerous ecosystem services on diverse property types, but they benefit unequally. Using our process, community members developed ideas for actions to reduce most identified discrepancies. Actions centered around the following themes: developing infrastructure; controlling access; gaining status; encouraging involvement; adjusting natural infrastructure; increasing services; and, information transmission. Findings related to our process also emerged: different knowledge types complement each other to create a broader picture of how people benefit from nature; assessing satisfaction helps uncover nuances associated with discrepancies; knowledge co-creation helps develop ideas for actions to reduce discrepancies; and, considering different perspectives can help avoid trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]