Advancing optimal management practices and designing relevant policy interventions for maintaining ecosystem services (ES) that satisfy local demand is a challenge in fragile mountain ecosystems. Under OPERAs, a backcasting framework (BackES) is being developed that develops and evaluates a variety of ES transition pathways and identifies types, combinations and timings of policy interventions that increase ES benefits. The underlying agent-based Alpine-Land-Use-Allocation-Model (ALUAM-AB) is tailored to simulate future changes in land use and ES triggered by the combined effects of climate, market and policy changes, while considering individual behaviour of local farmers.