Alpine skiing – FIS and WMO join forces to raise awareness of climate change

(Reuters) – The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have formed a new partnership focused on raising awareness of the impact of climate change on winter sports and tourism, it said on Thursday .

Their partnership will also mark the first time the United Nations WMO has worked with an international sports federation, with the agreement coming into effect before the 2024-25 winter season.

“Spoiled winter holidays and canceled sporting events are – quite literally – the tip of the climate change iceberg,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a statement.

“Glacier retreat, reduced snow and ice cover, and permafrost thawing are having significant impacts on mountain ecosystems, communities, and economies, and will have increasingly severe impacts at local, national, and global levels in the coming centuries.”

Warming weather conditions and a shorter season are threatening winter sports and testing the resolve of professionals and amateurs alike.

In the 2023/24 season, the FIS organized 616 World Cup races in all disciplines at 166 venues, but 26 of them were canceled due to weather-related reasons.

In European ski resorts such as Italy, entire mountains are free of snow and ski centers are deserted as rising temperatures threaten the ski industry worldwide.

“The climate crisis is obviously much bigger than the FIS – or even sport: it is a real crossroads for humanity,” said FIS President Johan Eliasch.

“However, it is true that, put simply, climate change represents an existential threat to skiing and snowboarding.

“We would be remiss if we did not make every possible effort based on science and objective analysis. This is what we want to pursue and what lies at the heart of this promising partnership with the WMO.”

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, Editing by Ed Osmond)