Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 603

FIGURE 12.2 Flamsdalen Railway, Norway. Railways heralded the age of mass transport in mountain
regions. They were instrumental in the development of mountain tourism. (Photo by M. F. Price.)
Increases in accessibility bring both benefits and negative effects (Mountain Agenda
2001). Mountain people can benefit from improved access to other parts of the moun-
tains and to the lowlands through increased opportunities for employment and income,
particularly for weekly or seasonal migration to surrounding lowland areas. Improved
access facilitates the development of local markets, small and large industries, and ser-
vices such as tourism—all creating local employment and increased economic diversi-
fication and provision of basic goods. Since the Karakoram Highway was constructed
in 1959-1986 and the regional road network was improved, the mountains of northern
Pakistan, notorious for periods of famine and starvation, no longer suffer from food defi-
cits thanks to regular provision from the lowlands. The highway has also led to reduced
prices for basic food and facilitated local production of seeds for potatoes and veget-
ables, which are exported to lowland areas (Kreutzmann 2004). Road connection can
help stabilize population numbers and increase quality of life, as it makes possible the
development of basic infrastructure such as clinics and schools, and increases access
to consumer goods and exposure to the wider increases world, allowing the spread of
new ideas. Access also increases opportunities for regional cooperation and economic
exchange within mountain areas. In the Alps, for example, 72 percent of the total traffic
volume (vehicle-kilometers) is local and regional inner-Alpine traffic, while tourism and
recreational traffic accounts for 20 percent, and transit traffic for only 8 percent (Acker-
mann et al. 2006). Particularly in developing countries, adequate access is key to relief
activities to mitigate the effects of natural disasters or famine.
Increased access by railroads and roads can also result in negative impacts, includ-
ing brain drain and the overexploitation of resources, such as through logging and min-
ing. For example, along the Karakoram Highway, forest stand density of highly access-
ible forests (closest motorable road within 2 km) decreased up to 85 percent, as op-
posed to 0-40 percent in less accessible forests (closest motorable road further than 8
km) (Schickhoff 2001). In South America, roads on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian
Andes have created a rush for gold and timber in the eastern lowlands since the early
1990s. The completion of the Transoceanic Highway between Peru and Brazil across the
Peruvian Andes is likely to increase levels of overexploitation and destruction of forests
(Brandon et al. 2005). Other examples of overexploitation include tourism and forest
use.
Road and railroad construction have led to fragmentation of mountain habitats. This
can affect mammals or birds; for example, condors in the Peruvian Andes avoid areas
cut by roads when searching for food (Speziale et al. 2008). Where road traffic is heavy,
as in urban centers and along transit corridors, air pollution is often a problem, exacer-
bated by local topo-climatic conditions, with negative impacts on health, quality of life,
and environment. Examples of such problems include the European Alps, Central Amer-
ica (e.g., Mexico City), the Andes (e.g., Santiago de Chile), and many larger tourist re-
sorts and industrial centers in mountain areas around the world.
Roads and railroads can also increase erosion and sediment loads in rivers. The ef-
fects can be substantial; construction of a mountain road in Nepal, for example, in-
creased the sediment load in the local stream by 300-500 percent (Merz et al. 2006).