(Geneva) The International Ski and Snowboard Federation announced a partnership with a UN climate agency on Thursday to help winter sports adapt to climate change.
This five-year agreement between the FIS and the World Climate Organization (WCO) aims to help national ski federations, facilities and competition organizing committees better understand weather forecasts in order to better manage the use of snow natural and artificial. A videoconference is to take place on this subject on November 7.
These organisations, which are based in Switzerland, said in a joint statement that “winter sports and tourism face an uncertain future due to climate change”, and the associated warmer temperatures.
The FIS recalled that climate issues had led to the cancellation of 26 of its 616 stages of the World Cup last season in all the disciplines it oversees: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing. , ski jumping and snowboarding.
“Winter water holidays and major sporting competitions are – literally – the tip of the iceberg in terms of climate change,” said OCM Secretary General Celeste Saulo in a press release.
Organizing committees have long relied on local water reserves to create artificial snow to prepare the courses, and it is increasingly common to observe a white ribbon clashing with the brown and green of the forest and fields.
“The climate crisis does not only affect the FIS, or the sporting disciplines,” underlined its president Johan Eliasch. We are at a crossroads for our species.
“And it is true that climate change is, clearly, a threat to the survival of skiing and snowboarding,” he added.
As temperatures continue to rise across the globe, the International Olympic Committee has declared that by 2040 only 10 countries will be able to host snow events at the Winter Olympics.
The 2022 Beijing Games used only artificial snow for the alpine skiing events, about 90 km north of the Chinese capital, on mountains that receive almost no natural snow.
Saudi Arabia has developed a ski resort with an artificial lake near the Neom City of the Future project in preparation for hosting the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
In Switzerland, the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (WMO) reported that the country’s glaciers have lost around 60% of their volume since 1850.
“The melting of glaciers in mountainous, arctic and subarctic regions has direct consequences on the stability of the infrastructure built there, and also contributes to increasing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere,” said the CMO.
Less snow is falling at altitudes of up to 800 meters, and the number of snowy days has been halved since 1970, the Geneva-based UN agency said.