Save Our Slopes, say top skiers in climate change SOS 0

POZNAN, Poland, Dec. 5, 2008 (AFP) -- Some of the world's top skiers and snowboarders Friday urged governments locked in U.N. climate talks to curb greenhouse gas emissions, saying that global warming was threatening their sport.

World and Olympic champions Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso from the United States, along with Tanja Frieden of Switzerland, headlined a roster and 30-odd world class competitors in launching the appeal.

"As avid skiers and snowboarders, we're watching first-hand the destructive power of global warming," the athletes said in a petition submitted to Polish Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki, who is chairing the tense U.N. negotiations.

"From the European Alps to the Asian Himalayas, from the U.S. Rockies and the Central American Andes, global warming is threatening winter."

The consequences of glacial retreat and changes in snowfall will be felt not just by winter sports lovers, they warned. Local communities that depend on tourism cold be hit hard, and fragile Alpine ecosystems have already shown signs of severe strain. And tens of million people in low-lying regions who depend on runoff for agriculture and drinking water will also be affected, experts warn.

"And when the glaciers are gone from the mountains, what waters the plains? In one way or another, rising temperatures will harm us all," the statement said.

The petition, organised by green group WWF, said any new U.N. treaty should reduce emissions enough to keep average global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to preindustrial times. U.N. climate scientists have said that any rise beyond that threshold could unleash devastating consequences across the globe.

It also called for global emissions to peak before 2020 and by 2050 be cut by 80 percent compared to 1990 levels.

The December 1-12 conference of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- attended by 10,000 delegates from 192 countries -- is aimed at advancing towards a new pact on reducing carbon emissions that trap the Sun's heat, and on boosting help to poor, vulnerable countries.

Copyright 2008 -- Agence France-Presse

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