With mountainous regions under threat from global warming, is the winter sports business doing enough to protect the delicate eco-system in its care?
Assistant Editor's Note: The following paragraph is the introduction to an article posted on The Ecologist, by Ben Hudson.
Every year, one million skiers take to the slopes from the UK alone, while a staggering five million Brits consider themselves to be skiers even if they don’t actually make it to the mountains. Europe is home to thousands of ski resorts, with Austria, France, Switzerland and Italy among the most popular. The Alps alone has more than 600 resorts with more than 10,000 pipes, half pipes and ski lifts catering for 85 per cent of the UK’s skiers. But what impact does the annual influx of tourists have on mountainous regions’ delicate eco-systems? And what effect is climate change having on the ski business itself?
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