Winter Olympics might end up with half of suitable venues due to climate change: Study

The Winter Olympics might soon become history as climate change could reduce suitable venues for the games, warns a new study led by experts from Loughborough University. Since 1924, when the first Winter Olympics began, 21 venues have been employed for the winter sports such as skiing, ice skating and snowboarding, and these sports might soon be a thing of the past as per the new study. Experts have come up with the warning just a week before the Winter Olympics 2022 is set to commence in China starting February 4. It is pertinent to mention here that the forthcoming Olympics will be the first to use 100% artificial snow, that will be prevented from melting using chemicals.

Number of venues to be lowered to 10

Further warning about the possible outcomes, the study published in Current Issues in Tourism, predicts that only 10 venues will be left with 'climate suitability' and natural snowfall levels by 2050. Titled 'Slippery Slopes: How Climate Change is Threatening the Winter Olympics', the report says as per Daily Mail-

The risk is clear - man-made warming is threatening the long-term future of winter sports. It is also reducing the number of climatically suitable host venues for the Winter Olympiad.

Daily Mail reported that previous venues in Chamonix, Norway, France and Austria have been listed under the 'high risk' category whereas Vancouver, Russia's Sochi and California's Squaw Valley have been labelled as 'unreliable'. Surprisingly, another study led by the University of Waterloo revealed that only one of the 21 previous venues will be able to host the Olympics again if global temperatures continue to rise at the current rate. While the study authors admitted that this year's Winter Olympics will be a 'spectacle', they also warned that people should debate over the future of winter sports and the limitations of artificial winter environments. 

Artificial snow will consume 222 million litres of water: Reports

It has been estimated that as much as 222 million litres of water will be required to produce the artificial snow that will be used in the Winter Olympics 2022. British freestyle champion and Winter Olympian Peter Speight was reported by Dail Mail saying-

It's helpful for creating physical snow for people to use, but it uses large amounts of water and energy and does not help solve climate change. We need to solve climate change at the source, rather than rely on mitigation-focused solutions.

Image: AP