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Telegraph
13-03-2025
- Climate
- Telegraph
‘Those not worried about the future of European skiing are in denial': The French resorts reinventing the ski holiday
Those not worried about the future of European skiing are in denial. Temperatures in the Alps have risen 1.5C since 1900 – much of that in the last three decades. We can't keep saying 'it's just a bad year'. This season, over New Year, I skied at Isola 2000, Alpes-Maritimes. Half the resort was closed; 2/13 red runs left open. The pistes ran ribbons of white in a sludge-coloured landscape, like slides in a playground. It bore little resemblance to the photos I'd been shown by a childhood friend, who used to ski here each year. High-altitude resorts suffer from a sense of complacency. Sure, Les Deux Alpes with summer skiing on its glacier at 3,600m isn't going to be the first to swap snowparks for skateboarding, but as more and more downhill ski resorts shut up shop, those left open risk mass overtourism, or hiking their prices so astronomically that skiing becomes reserved for an ever-smaller elite. One hundred and eighty-six ski stations have already closed in France. Size and altitude aside, the fact remains that these sites once had enough snow to make downhill skiing possible, and no longer do. We're looking at a dystopian future where disused ski lifts pepper France's mountains. Métabief, Jura, has chosen to jump before being pushed, investing in cross-country skiing over downhill. Studies by Météo France and INRAE found that by 2040 artificial snow would be the only way to guarantee downhill skiing in the resort, and by 2050, downhill skiing was likely to be impossible. In spite of this, councillors for the Départment du Doubs, of which Métabief is a part, wanted to invest €24 million in replacing their chairlifts. 'To what end, when we weren't going to have any snow left by 2040?' said Philippe Alpy, who became vice president of Doubs in 2015. He scrapped the funding, instead investing a significantly lower sum into repairing the existing chairlifts. 'Many of the councillors weren't happy with the decision; downhill skiing is very close to their hearts,' said Alpy. 'There's a lot of climate-scepticism, fuelled by the media. People say 'we've always had years without much snow'. Not consecutive years like this, and when you're the one keeping the accounts, you see the financial deficit straight away.' I'd love to bury my head in the sand (or snowdrift, should there be enough of it), because what beats the joy of downhill skiing? Even worse, I came to the sport late, just three years ago, having wasted years at school and working when I could have been skiing. To secure my snow-sports future, I decided to do as Métabief has done, and give cross-country skiing a go. Les Menuires, in the giant Trois Vallées ski area, would hardly be first to appear in a dystopian series on abandoned ski resorts, but that doesn't mean its day won't come. I'd skied here before and never considered that there might be cross-country pistes tucked out of sight of the concrete buildings. A weekend of classes awaited my partner and I. The boots slid on painlessly, coddling my feet like, well, regular boots rather than the instruments of torture we use for downhill skiing. The skis, absurdly long and light, made me feel like an upended Edward Scissorhands. Les Menuires' cross-country ski slopes were as quiet as a Christmas card scene. Pushing off on a slope with little more incline than a wedge of cheese, I gathered speed. Neither snowplough nor a skid brake seemed to work with cross-country skis, and I went crashing to the ground, knowing no other way to stop. A bruise to my ego, my partner, a Frenchman who has been skiing since birth, made far quicker progress than I did. My knees, butt and even my face were also bruised, repeatedly, as I crashed to the ground in every direction. Nonetheless, by the end of the first lesson we'd both completed a 4km blue run (cross-country pistes are graded the same as downhill). Buoyed by our success, we stayed after the lesson and tackled it again. On day two, our instructor took us off-piste, where the snow was unspoilt and glittering. We were pitted against each other with circuit training, a competitiveness that brought out the best of our skiing and the worst of our personalities. We sweated, ached and had such a good time that we spent the whole journey home looking up cross-country ski gear, and hut-to-hut routes we could try. We were converts, and we're not alone. The cross-country ski station Crévoux, Serre-Ponçon, saw cross-country participation increase by 60 per cent in a single year, from 2023 to 2024. It's particularly popular with youngsters in France.. 'The Olympic biathlon champion Martin Fourcade inspired lots of young people to try cross-country skiing,' said Thomas Giovannangeli, marketing director at Serre-Ponçon Tourist Office. 'He made it young, cool and dynamic again.' If the future of skiing is to be flat, I don't mind as much as I thought.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Scientists reveal how a new strategy in Africa is having unprecedented success — here's what it's accomplished
In an effort to conserve nature and reduce deforestation, several African countries have teamed up with non-governmental organizations to co-manage protected areas. According to a press release by France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), the collaborative management strategy includes 127 partnerships that span 1 million square kilometers (more than 386,000 square miles) across 16 countries. An international research team from INRAE and Le Havre University investigated how much of an effect the management models had on deforestation rates. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, showed that protected areas saw a 55% reduction in deforestation, while the most vulnerable protected areas experienced 66% less tree removal. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. As sub-Saharan Africa houses 13% of the world's biodiversity and around 20% of its forests, per the news release, governments established the continent's first protected area in 1925 to safeguard these immense natural resources. Following the conservation of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, government bodies created thousands of other protected areas. However, underfunding and ineffective management have made it difficult for governments to oversee such vast wilderness. To fill the management gap, co-management initiatives have sprung up over the last two decades between several African states and NGOs. Through these collaborative management partnerships, NGOs manage thousands of square kilometers across several states for 25 to 40 years. INRAE stated that NGOs normally support projects for just 2-5 years, so this long-term partnership will provide even more benefits for people and the environment. Funds from the partnership will go toward training staff and park rangers, building roads and tourism infrastructure, and installing power plants near the Virunga and Garamba Parks to boost living conditions for communities. Researchers noted that these investments in energy development and staff recruiting have made the biggest difference in the protected areas most threatened by human activities. The findings prove that co-management between governments and NGOs can play a critical role in preserving biodiversity and ecosystems in the long term. Other conservation efforts have borne fruit in South Africa, where a private reserve released at-risk southern white rhinos to boost the population, and an urban farm restored a huge forest area. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
