The International Ski and Snowboard Federation joined forces with the United Nations meteorological agency on Thursday, as the winter sports world faces a perennial crisis due to climate change.
The initial five-year partnership between FIS and the World Meteorological Organization aims to help national ski federations, venues and race organizers better understand weather forecasting and manage natural and artificial snow. Masu. An online meeting is scheduled for November 7th.
“Winter sports and tourism face a bleak future due to climate change and rising temperatures,” the Swiss-based organizations said in a joint statement.
According to the FIS, 26 of the 616 World Cup events last season had to be canceled due to weather problems, including alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboard parks and pipes, freestyle skiing and ski jumping.
“Ruining winter holidays and canceling sporting events is literally the tip of the climate iceberg,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Sauro said in a statement.
Event organizers have long relied on using local water resources to create artificial snow to prepare the course, with races broadcast along forests and fields ranging from white to brown to green. is often seen.
“The climate crisis is clearly much bigger than FIS and sport,” said association president Johan Elias. “This is a genuine crossroads for humanity.
“But it is true that climate change is, simply put, an existential threat to skiing and snowboarding.”
With global temperatures rising, the International Olympic Committee has said that by 2040 only 10 countries will have “climatically credible” prospects to host snow events at the Winter Olympics.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Games relied entirely on artificial snow to hold the alpine race about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of the city in a mountainous area with little natural snowfall.
Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games by building a ski resort with an artificial lake near the Future City Project Neom.
The Swiss Federal Weather Service has announced that Alpine glaciers have lost around 60% of their volume since 1850.
“The melting of frozen ground in mountainous, arctic and subarctic regions not only contributes to an increase in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, but also has a direct impact on the stability of the infrastructure built on top of it.” WMO stated.
The Geneva-based United Nations agency says there is less snow in the lowlands, up to 800 meters (2,600 feet) above sea level, and the number of snowy days has been halved since 1970.