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To facilitate the transition to sustainable sports and tourism in the mountain environment.

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To provide a collaborative platform that identifies and supports inspirational, innovative solutions and a regenerative economy in the mountains, the most sensitive environment to climate change.

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Today is International Mountain Day ⛰️ with a focus on Restoring Mountain Ecosystems🌲Did you know that mountains host about half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, providing habitats for numerous fauna and flora that occur nowhere else? Did you know that mountains are home to more than 85% of the world’s species of amphibians, birds, and mammals, many entirely restricted to mountains ? The sports and tourism industries have a responsibility to protect healthy mountain ecosystems for people and the planet Photo: Milford Sound (Piopiotahi), New Zealand. Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. It is also the most visited place in New Zealand receiving around 1 million visitors a year. Milford Sound sits within the Fiordland National Park (Te Wahi Pounamu) with 1.2million hectares of virgin rainforest and sheer granite mountains rising from the sea to over 2700m. This fragile eco-system is a biodiverse wilderness, rapidly becoming the last remaining refuge for indigenous creatures and plants, such as the kea, whio, weka, the New Zealand falcon karearea, kiwi tokoeka and kaka, as well as a range of marine, invertebrate and flora species. MountainsMatter IMD2023 sustainablesport sustainabletourism sustainablemountains
Restoring mountain ecosystems is the theme of this year's International Mountain Day⛰️ to be celebrated in exactly 1 month, on the 11 December 2023.Healthy mountains matter for biodiversity, covering about 27% of the 🌏 land surface, hosting 25/34 of the world's biodiversity hotspots and attracting around 15-20% of global tourism. As the water towers of the world, they supply freshwater to an estimated half of humanity. Mountains are home to an extraordinary range of plants and animals, and to many culturally diverse communities with different languages and traditions. From climate regulation and water provisioning services, to soil maintenance and conservation, mountains are key to our lives and livelihoods. Yet mountains are suffering from the impacts of climate change and unsustainable development, escalating risks for people and the planet. Climate change threatens the flow of water, and fast-rising temperatures are forcing mountain species and the people that depend on these ecosystems to adapt or migrate. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, up to 84% of endemic mountain species are at risk of extinction, while populations of a range of other montane plant and animal species are projected to decline and face extinction. The SMA calls for nature-based solutions, best practices and investments in sustainable sport and tourism that build resilience, reduce vulnerability and increase the ability of mountains to adapt to daily threats and extreme climatic events. Photo©Pranab Basak: "Gaumukh" is the terminus or pout of the Gangotri Glacier and the source of the Bhagirathi River, one of the primary headstreams of the Ganges River. Situated at a height of 13,200 ft (4,023 m) in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. mountainsmatter sustainabletourism sustainablesport adaptationataltitude internationalmountainday2023
The sustainablemountainalliance is official partner of the SIEPPUR Sustainable Snow Management Project whose mission is to develop and share the most efficient and resourceoptimized sustainable snow management practices with the entire industry. We recently met with the biathlonworld Snow Network that brings together snow experts from top biathlon venues worldwide to share experiences and lessons learned. snowsports depend on snow, but with the current rate of globalwarming and climatechange, access to snow is a challenge for both competition and training.Thank you to pistenbully for hosting our latest gathering and our partners BiathlonWorld wslresearch Peak 63 thefutureofsnow sustainablesnow sustainabilityleadership sustainablesport snowsports climatechange
As partners in the ongoing EU funded SIEPPUR Sustainable Snow Management Project, we're proud to introduce the SIEPPUR Project Coordinator, the International Biathlon Union (IBU)Acknowledging the importance of sustainability in the sporting industry, the IBU is dedicated to recognizing its role and responsibility in snow management. By actively collaborating with their Host Venues and National Federations the IBU promotes and develops the biathlon sport globally while also continuously implementing sustainable practices. Thank you biathlonworld for your commitment❄️🌍 thefutureofsnow sustainablesnow sustainablesport biathlon climatechange
NEW STUDY: Snow supply risk to ski tourism in the context of climate change.The $30bn (£23.8bn) European ski industry hosts 80% of the world’s resorts, but a quarter of European ski resorts will have scarce snow every other year with 2C of global heating, a comprehensive study has found: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01759-5 The study looks at the influence and environmental footprint of snowmaking that, with its water and electricity demand (and related carbon footprint), ‘epitomizes one of the key challenges at the nexus between climate change adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development in the mountains, with their high social-ecological vulnerability’. Snow management is designed to reduce the snow supply risk but is itself influenced by climatic impact drivers. In turn, it induces pressure on environmental externalities, with related greenhouse gas emissions. ‘Global tourism (not only ski tourism) is responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions estimated at 8.1% of global emissions, with 49.1% of this contribution being caused by transport.’ ‘Reaching strong reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for ski tourism destinations will chiefly depend on massive reductions of the carbon footprint of transportation and accommodation’ sustainablesnow sustainabletourism ski snow climateadapatation climatechange
The Big Climb Kilimanjaro 2023 has now begun and the SMA is again a proud partner of this unique initiative. Climbers are expected to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro 5895m on 5 August 2023 taking the 7 day tented Rongai route.In partnership with the_explorers_club, the theme of this year's climb is 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion'. Congratulations to the ten youth selected from Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and the US to join The Big Climb 2023. Read their biographies here: https://thebigclimb.org/climbers/ Thank you to fjallravenofficial for officially kitting them out. Over the past few years, The Big Climb has worked closely with the Marangu Hospital both to offset The Big Climb’s carbon footprint and provide support to the local community. They have cared for some of our climbers who have had medical issues on the mountain. And in return, we seek to help the hospital. In 2022, the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development, with the support of ki_usa, we donated solar power panels to the hospital. It has shaved 40% off their annual electricity bill and they can now perform operations without the fear of power cuts. For us, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro is more than reaching the summit of Africa. It's about contributing to the communities that welcome us on the mountain. As part of our program, in partnership with the hospital and Marangu Rotary Club, The Big Climb provided free medical consultations to the residents of Marangu, a day before The Big Climb 2023 began. Many thanks to the sponsors and partners including the_explorers_club fjallravenofficial hanwagofficial sustainablemountainalliance unfcu unfcufoundation pdaidfoundation ki_usa thebigclimb maranguhotel kilimanjaro tanzania kenya climbing climb mountaineering trekking explorer together diversity equity inclusion summit africa eastafrica adventure sustainablesport sustainabletourism sustainablemountaindevelopment solarpower sustainableenergy renewableenergy

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