The threat to winter sports from climate change leads to an agreement between ski chiefs and UN experts

Ski and snowboard bosses are to work with United Nations weather experts to address the “existential threat” to winter sports posed by climate change.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) canceled 26 of its 616 World Cup races in all disciplines last season for weather-related reasons.

“Winter sports and tourism face a bleak future due to climate change,” it said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) warned last year that only ten countries will be able to host snow sports by 2040 due to the effects of climate change.

Now the FIS has signed a memorandum of understanding to work with the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) “to highlight the far-reaching impacts of rising global temperatures on snow and ice cover and to establish practical initiatives.”

It is the first time that the WMO has partnered with an international sports federation.

“To put it simply, climate change is an existential threat to skiing and snowboarding,” said FIS President Johan Eliasch.

“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.”

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

“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.”

Next month, the boards will host an event for all 137 national ski associations, venue managers and event organizers to address the issue.