Global warming is threatening the livelihood of many low-altitude ski resorts in central Europe, North America and Australia, according to the results of a United Nations study published on Tuesday.
The study, commissioned by the UN’s Environment Programme (Unep) and carried out by Professor Rolf Burki and colleagues at the University of Zurich, was being presented at the V World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Turin, Italy. Turin is the host city for the 206 Winter Olympic Games.
Experts believe levels of snow falling in lower-lying mountain areas will become increasingly unpredictable and unreliable over the coming decades as a result of global warming.
This means many low-altitude ski resorts around the world will face economic hardship and even ruin.
In Switzerland, between 37% and 56% of the country’s ski resorts, including Wildhaus and Unterwasser, could soon have such low levels of snow that they may face ”acute difficulties in attracting overseas tourists and local winter sports enthusiasts”, the study says.
”The impacts of climate change on winter tourism may be even more severe in countries such as Germany or Austria due to the lower altitudes of their ski resorts,” researchers say.
The internationally celebrated winter sports town of Kitzbuehl, for example, which is popular among the rich and famous and lies at an altitude of 760m, faces extinction as a top ski resort.
The study says that ski resorts in North America and Australia will also be impacted. Indeed, none of Australia’s ski resorts will be economically viable by 2070 under a worst case scenario.
The news came as nations were meeting for a UN conference on climate change in nearby Milan.
”Climate change in the form of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and droughts, is the greatest challenge facing the world. Clearly it is the poorest of the poor on continents like Africa, Asia and Latin America who are at the greatest risk, who are the most vulnerable,” said Unep executive director Klaus Toepfer.
”But this study on winter sports shows that it is not just the developing world that will suffer. Even rich nations are facing potentially massive upheavals with significant economic, social and cultural implications,” Toepfer said. — Sapa-DPA