It’s always quite thrilling to drive along a mountain range, isn’t it? Apart from the scary (and also exciting) thought of possibly plunging over the edge of a sheer precipice, there are the magnificent views of forests, farmland, watercourses, waterfalls, towns and villages and high peaks with dramatic lighting effects. And because montane environments have their own climates that differ from the lowlands, there are often also intense deluges of rain or snow with strong winds and, sometimes, landslides on the steep slopes, flash floods in the ravines and valleys and raging fires started by lightning strikes.

Given all this drama it’s not surprising that mountains have for so long been considered the home of gods and other supernatural beings representing the power of nature. Mountains are also home to humans and huge and diverse populations of animals and plants, often constituting the last remaining natural areas after low-lying country has been used for agricultural production and urban areas. Despite, or perhaps because of, the often awesome and difficult landscapes that make up mountainous terrain, the highland areas of the world are exceptionally important to the wellbeing of the lowlands and, indeed, the whole planet. The European Environment Agency once famously described mountains as 'the undervalued ecological backbone of Europe'. In particular, they are vital for the hydrological cycle and the consistent flow of clean water to the lowlands.

Bearing all this in mind, have you thought about the impact on the mountains of your thrilling drive? Not just the emissions from the vehicle’s exhaust, the leaks of oil from the engine and the rubber eroded from its tyres but also the building and maintenance of the road itself and the effects of the easy access the road provides to formerly remote and inaccessible areas? Even a quick think on the subject will reveal a web of complexities, with both positive and negative impacts.

A scientific workshop in Rome in 2010 threw itself into the web to try and solve some of the problems and build on the positive. The workshop tellingly featured researchers from the RUPES project. But what could rewards for environmental services have to do with mountain roads? Quite a lot, when you think about it.

As one of the presenters at the workshop put it, ‘Wouldn’t we pay up to 200 euros for maintaining the pleasure of a walk in the forest or 90 euros per year for preserving the high quality of fresh water, if we knew that we were going to lose these goods in the long run?’ (p. 23).

Grace Villamor told the workshop about a RUPES study in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, Nepal. This enormous expanse of mountains, which includes the world’s highest, Mt Everest, is an ecological buffer between North and South Asia and a world heritage site for biodiversity. The glaciers of the Himalayas are key reserves of fresh water, providing headwaters to 10 major river systems, forming a lifeline for almost one-third of the human population of the planet.

In the mountains themselves, most human residents rely on agriculture and forests for their livelihoods. Populations of both humans and their livestock are increasing, as are roads into the mountains that allow access to formerly secluded areas. The subsequent expansion and intensification of agricultural production is having a negative impact on the integrity of forests and wetlands. Concomitantly, landslides and floods are increasing. The countries in the region are typically affected by political instability and, as a consequence, the environmental governance systems are weak. Services that the ecosystems of the mountains provide, such as clean water, wide biological diversity and carbon dioxide sequestration, are being degraded and tourism and local cultures are also being adversely affected.