The Environmental Hazards of Making Snow During the unseasonably warm winter in Europe, many ski resorts are

relying on snow machines to do natures work, much to the bane of environmentalists. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow in Europe's Alpine resorts During this seasons unusually warm weather, Alpine ski resorts are doing everything they can to cover their slopes in white powder and attract the tourists. Because there's no telling when the next flurries will come, many ski operators are relying on artificial snow from machines. These machines are the life-line for Europes winter sports resorts. Without them, the ski runs would remain bare and the tourists would not come. Half of the seasonal income would fall out, leaving many families desperate for employment. Even mountainous Switzerland depends on the machines for a continual snow cover. In St. Moritz, 14 snow makers are constantly busy producing the soft powder. At least half of the resorts annual profits would melt without the machines. But environmentalists warn of the dangers associated with relying too heavily on artificial snow makers. "The original idea, to use snow machines sparingly and only in valleys, has been forgotten," says Gerald Steindlegger of Austrias World Wide Fund for Nature. "Today entire ski resorts are being covered in artificial snow. This has negative consequences for the environment, and severe ones at that." More snow, but less water The most obvious consequence for the environment is the depleted supply of drinking water. Snow machines run on the basic principle of turning water into snow. A motorized compressor pumps water into the machine and then propels it in droplets through the air.

While in flight, the droplets turn into flakes and fall as soft snow to the ground. To cover one square meter of ski run, a snow machine requires 100 liters of quality water. Per season this adds up to 600 liters of water per square meter. To meet the increased demand for water, ski operators draw from local rivers and mountain streams, further diminishing what the Austrian WWF already regards as a limited supply. Mountain streams, a vital component in the Alpine ecosystem, are often pumped dry during the ski season and only regain their volume for a few months in the summer after the snow melts. A worker shovels truckloads of imported snow to prepare for the Ski Jump World Championships in Titisee-Neustadt in 2003. Snow coverage Ski run operators not only use the snow machines to cover slopes during unseasonably warm periods, but also to prolong the ski season beyond the normal winter months. Because artificial snow is also more compact and heavier than new snow it needs almost twice as long to melt. The extended snow coverage alters the natural climate cycle of the Alps. Although the temperatures are warmer, spring is not permitted to melt the snow away. The growth of new vegetation is therefore hindered. Another consequence of the snow machines is noise pollution. A high pressure compressor produces 115 decibels of noise. The human ear can tolerate about 85 decibels before beginning to suffer damage. Studies conducted by the Bavarian Organization for Environmental Protection have shown that animals are seriously effected by the noise of the machines. Because the snow makers are turned on only at night animals nocturnal behavior is also altered. "Winter tourism is an important economic factor in the Alpine regions. But the unchecked use of snow machines has long term effects that destroy the landscape, and will ultimately drive away the tourists," says Steindlegger.

In 2002, the European Union will present findings on a long-term study on the environmental sustainability of snow machines. Until then, ski resorts will continue to rely on the artificial snow to sustain their livelihood. DW.DE

Tackling Alpine Preservation It's been almost a decade since European countries decided to work together to preserve the Alps. With new threats emerging, they're meeting in Germany on Tuesday to plan for the future. Under threat Next year, the Alpine Convention, a regional agreement for the protection and sustainable development of the Alps, will celebrate its 10th anniversary. But in the decade since European countries with part of their territory in the Alps made a great leap forward and agreed to work together to find common solutions for common problems, critics say preservation efforts have not gone far enough. Meanwhile, a host of emerging threats demand urgent attention. Environment ministers meet in Germany GarmischPartenkirchen sits right near the German Alps in southern Bavaria On Tuesday, the environmental ministers of the

seven permanent members of the convention, led by Germany, the current chair, will meet in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for the eighth Alpine Conference. They'll assess their successes and set out an ambitious plan for the region, a rich and diverse area encompassing 190,287 square kilometres with a population of more than 13 million. But with the Alpine Convention remaining a non-binding framework with, until now, no permanent secretariat, it remains to be seen if it has the political muscle to get the job done. Regional thinking a good start With the growth of the environmental movement in the 1960's and 1970's an increased awareness of the threats facing the Alps developed, and preservationists lobbied hard for a collective approach. After years of wrangling, the Alpine Convention went into force in March of 1995. A framework agreement between seven European countries, it set out to limit environmental degradation by harmonizing economic and environmental policies in the region. Thus, with 13 protocols, including ones related to air and water pollution, the convention's greatest initial achievement was that it promoted a regional way of thinking where highly territorial national policies once prevailed. The Morteratsch glacier in Switzerland has been melting at a rapid pace. "The Alpine Convention increased the realization that the Alps need to be treated as a region and the participants need to develop a regional way of thinking," Martin Price, director of the Center for Mountain Studies at Perth College in Great Britain and the former chairman of the European Mountain Forum told DW-WORLD. Andreas Gtz, the director of the International Commission for the protection of the Alps (CIPRA) agreed. "The main thing is that a regional consciousness developed," he told DW-WORLD.

Initial success gives way to stalled agenda In the years since it went into force, the Alpine Convention has not been without its successes. A network of protected areas was created, as well as an International Scientific Commission for Alpine Research, based in Bern, to study environmental threats and possible solutions. What's more, related initiatives, such as the Alliance in the Alps, founded by CIPRA, encouraged individual regions to share information and best practices. A paraglider is flying in front of the Alps down from the Brauneck mountain near Bad Tlz in southern Germany. But after an initial flutter of activity, some say efforts have stalled. Though lots of data was collected and inter-regional relationships were forged, the tough issues -- inter-state transportation, the effects of global warming, the impactof depopulation -- have not been directly tackled. "The easier issues have been solved first and the more difficult ones left until later," Price said. Meeting to jumpstart agenda? At the meeting in Germany on Tuesday, the ministers are expected to announce a six-year plan to breath new life into the convention, and the creation of a permanent secretariat based in Innsbruck to oversee the revised agenda and the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to chart progress will be announced. Likewise, CIPRA has launched a "Future of the Alps" initiative, which it hopes will - on a grass roots basis - help speed up the adaptation of the individual protocols. "We do not have a lack of knowledge," Wolfgang Pfefforkorn, the director of the Future of the Alps Initiative, told DW-WORLD. "We have a lack of the implementation." A more results-oriented agenda, with a regular "State of the Alps" report would be a good start, Werner Baetzing, an expert in alpine research at the University of Erlangen in Germany told DW-WORLD.

New ski resorts threaten highest peaks The steeple of the church in the Liechtenstein village of Triesenberg is seen in front of the Alvierkette mountain chain in the Swiss Alps. A renewed commitment to Alpine preservation could not come at a better time. New threats are emerging, illustrating the Alps delicate state. Chief among them: global warming, which will affect the region in a number of different ways, including, possibly precipitating the end of ski-related tourism. According to a report released last year by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), up to half of all Alpine ski resorts in France, Austria and Switzerland may be forced to close over the next fifty years if current global warming trends continue and the snowline rises another 300 meters to 1800 meters above sea level. In response, the owners of the threatened resorts are looking to build so-called "second generation ski resorts" above the revised snowline among the Alps' highest peeks and glaciers despite strict laws preventing further development. In May, in the Tirol, they succeeded. The local government ruled to relax the law, paving the way for two major projects. Michel Revaz, the deputy director of CIPRA told DW-WORLD that he is worried the move will spark a dangerous game one upmanship among European ski resorts. "Now that it's happened in Austria, all the others will want to do the same," he told DWWORLD. He would prefer to see the affected regions look for an alternatives to ski tourism, rather than colonizing the Alps remaining pristine peaks. Convention a model to learn from

German ski jumper Sven Hannawald soars in front of the Zugspitze mountain ridge In the case of global warming and ski tourism, and a number of other areas, the benefits of a regional approach are many. On Tuesday, the members of the Alpine Convention will be looking to build on past successes and put bite into a decade-old agreement. The future of a region representative of many people's picture of Europe hangs in the balance. On the plus side, experts say that when it comes to the preservation of mountain regions, Europe is leading the way and setting an excellent example for other mountain areas around the world struggling with similar issues. "Maybe it's not the model to follow," Price said. "But it's the model to learn from." DW.DE

Report: Global Warming Could Devastate Ski Resorts After a record warm November delayed snowfall in the Alps, a new OECD report has warned that climate change poses "serious risks" to snow reliability in ski areas and could dramatically impact their economies. Will skiing in the Alps become a thing of the past? In the first systematic crosscountry study of ski areas in the Alpine region, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, found that recent warming in the

region, which is particularly sensitive to climate change, has been roughly three times the global average. Of the countries studied, Germany is most at risk, the report by the Paris-based group said. An increase in temperature by one degree could lead to a 60 percent decrease in the number of naturally snow-reliable ski areas in Germany. The skilift was empty at the Bavarian ski resort of Sudelfeld earlier this month Austria -- where half the tourism income is from winter tourism -- is slightly above average, followed by Italy, France and Switzerland, which would suffer the least. "The years 1994, 2000, 2002, and 2003 were the warmest on record in the Alps in the last 500 years," the report found, adding that climate projections show even greater changes in the coming decades. At the moment, 90 percent of large Alpine ski areas normally have adequate snow cover for at least 100 days per year, the report said, but future climate change could mean a drop in the number of snow-reliable ski areas. Ski operators are already adapting to rising snow lines and shorter winter seasons, mostly with technology rather than changing behavioral patterns. Artificial snow environmentally damaging Artificial snow is popular and cost effective for ski operators but consumes a lot of water and energy and can harm the landscape and ecology. Making artificial snow will become more expensive as temperatures rise, and it will no longer be possible if the air becomes too warm, the report said. Alpine tourism plays a key role in the economies of Alpine countries, with some 60 to 80 million tourists to the region each year, and a total of 160 million days recorded annually by ski lift operators in France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Another ski event cancelled

Five World Cup ski races have already been cancelled this year OPEC's warning came with the news of the cancellation of the women's slalom race in the France Alpine resort town of Megeve because of lack of snow. The International Skiing Federation (FIS) has so far failed to name a replacement venue for the event, which was scheduled for Dec. 20. Megeve is the fifth cancellation of the Alpine winter skiing season because of the unseasonably warm weather. Women's races in St. Moritz in Switzerland, men's and women's in Val d'Isere in France, as well as the traditional season-opener in Slden in Austria at the end of October were all called off.

Europe Heats Up According to a new report by Europe's leading Environment Agency, the continent only has 50 years to adapt to changing weather conditions with three-quarters of Europe's glaciers expected to melt. The future is likely to bring more sunbaths on mountain tops Europe's summer has again been hit by freak weather conditions, with heavy thunderstorms

affecting several European countries. In Cornwall, on Britain's western coast, floods caused buildings to collapse, while in southern France four people drowned after a sudden change in the weather led to powerful winds and massive waves. And these types of weather events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as the climate continues to change, according to a report published Wednesday by the European Environment Agency (EEA). "It's saying that we still need to have action according to (the Kyoto Protocol), we still need to have action at the national and European level," Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA executive director told DW-RADIO. "We're saying we now know enough to be able to act, and act we must," she warned. The report says that as a result of climate change Europe is warming faster than the global average. Scientists say global warming, which is due to the increased emissions of greenhouses gases, like carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, leads to an increase in extreme weather events like the devastating heat wave across Europe last summer and the mass flooding the summer before that. Europe must adapt While the agency strongly supports international moves to mitigate global warming like the Kyoto Protocol, it is now for the first time calling on countries to adapt to extreme weather events like flooding at the same time as reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. "It's not simply now a case of building flood defenses to meet an event that might have a one in 100 year chance of happening, Professor McGlade explained. "These are now not only going to occur more frequently, but also perhaps come in a more intense way. That means we need a very coherent strategy, both across Europe and at regional and local levels, so that people can anticipate what to do under those conditions." An integrated approach The report also predicts that by 2050 three-quarters of the Europe's main glaciers in the Swiss Alps will melt. The European Environment Agency says that climate change will not have an isolated impact on one area of the continent and that countries will have to take a more integrated approach on how to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as adapt to the impact of a warmer climate.

"When we talk about the transport infrastructure, we need to think about fuels -- in particular, what kind of transport, what kind of fuels -- and set ourselves targets for renewable energy, and within that creating a target for biomass or conversion to bio-fuels, " McGlade said. "We can't look in isolation at transport, (but also) where we place the transport infrastructure." The floods in summer 2002 killed around 80 people and led to widespread damage. The heat wave the following summer led to over 20,000 deaths and caused severe crop failure. Combined, this cost European countries some 20 billion ($24.7 billion). The money that could be better spent if Europe acted sooner to prevent and adapt to climate change, said the European Environment Agency. DW.DE

A Sunshade for Germany's Highest Peak What started as an operation for saving ski areas has turned out to be a successful environmental measure to protect glaciers from melting away. Germany's Zugspitze now spends most of the year undercover. Rolling out the sunshade for Germany's highest mountain. While most people in Germany are complaining about the unseasonable temperatures this summer, the cool, wet weather has been a boon to Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze. After a fresh dusting of snow on Germany's most famous glacier this past week, environmentalists let out a sigh of relief. But things aren't always this cool in the icy heights of the German Alps. Summers usually bring rising temperatures and glaring sunshine. Although the balmy weather may be just what the calendar calls for in the rest of the country, on the Zugspitze warm days are frowned upon.

With every rise in the mercury, precious centimeters of one of Germany's few remaining glaciers melt away. It's estimated that global warming results in a loss of about 10 centimeters of the glacier every year. At that rate, not much is expected to survive through the next century, says the Society for Environmental Research in Munich in its online Glacier Archive. To preserve this unique environment, dedicated workers at the Zugspitzbahn, the cable car operator up to the peak, have devised a giant sun shade to protect the ice on top of the 2,962 meter-high mountain. Every year for the past 10 years, they spread out about 6,000 square meters (19,000 sq. feet) of mats and tarpaulins on the glacier's surface. The white material reflects sunlight and insulates against the heat, preventing further melting of the snow and ice. Keeping the glacier under wraps Covering up the Zugspitze The canvas also helps protect the glacier from warm summer rain, "which virtually devours the snow," says Stephanie Vogel of the Zugspitzbahn. Vogel and her colleagues at the peak's cable car are in favor of the giant sunshade. Although she admits it is work to cover the glacier, it is import for preserving the fragile condition on the mountain top for posterity. Originally the idea was developed to protect snow in popular ski areas, but Vogel says it has moved beyond the economic aspects related to tourism and has turned out to be a successful environmental measure. To critics she acknowledges the sun shield is an "intervention in nature." Any attempt to save an at-risk environment implies intervention, she argues. The tarps, she believes, are the least dramatic interference. In other places, snow guns are used to keep mountain peaks and especially ski resorts covered in white powder. Germany, however, is against relying on artificial snow because

of the environmental concerns and the cost of energy involved. Consequences of glacial melting

At 2,963 meters, the Zugspitze in Bavaria is Germany's highest mountain. The Zugspitze is not alone in its battle against global warming. Environmentalists say glaciers are some of the most threatened ecosystems on earth. They function as "global thermometers" and are extremely sensitive to the world's rising temperature. Global warming, the lack of snow in winter, hot summers as well as air pollution and acid rain are responsible for shrinking glaciers, says the Society for Environmental Research in Munich. More than just the loss of a valuable landscape, the defrosting of the permanent glacial ice -- the permafrost --causes landslides and avalanches as the rocky undersurface is revealed and erodes in the rough wind. Resources of potable water provided by glacial ice also become more scarce, the society warns on its Web site. Given current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, the anti-glare shield on the Zugspitze may in the end only represent a last-ditch effort to slow down the almost inevitable glacier diminution. "As contemporary witnesses of this rapid melting we are at least able to experience real glaciers. It is possible our descendants won't see this phenomenon," fears the Society for Environmental Research. DW.DE