SAM Magazine-Vienna, Austria, Jan. 21, 2009-The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has criticized Sochi, the 2014 Olympic site, and other Central and Eastern European ski resorts over their development plans, claming they will irreparably damage some of Europe's last pockets of wilderness. In addition, the WWF claims that many of the resorts are unsustainable in the face of global warming, due to their relatively low elevations.

"Construction of ski facilities removes large areas of forest to make way for ski pistes, access roads and infrastructure, reducing and fragmenting habitat for wildlife," "It is irresponsible for governments to not only allow but actively support such damage when there is very likely no economic future for these resorts," said Andreas Beckman, deputy director of WWF's Danube-Carpathian program. In Sochi, the group has expressed concern about preserving natural areas within Sochi National Park.

Eastern Europe is contemplating major expansions. In Romania, plans are underway for 102 resorts or developments. Ukraine is home to a proposal to develop one of Europe's largest ski resorts, with 100,000 beds and 66 ski lifts, at a total cost of some €3 billion. Most of the proposed projects are located below an elevation of 5,000 feet, a threshold in the Alps that some consider the lowest point at which a ski resort is viable in terms of snowfall for skiing.

The WWF claims that the Carpathian Mountains, where many of the region's ski areas are planned, is home to over half of Europe's largest remaining populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx, as well as ancient beech forests stretching from Slovakia to Ukraine that the group says are among Europe's last remaining natural forests. The woodlands were recently listed as a World Heritage Site.

Last but not least, the WWF alleges that some ski developments are illegal as well as unwise.

At the very least, Beckmann said, public authorities should "ensure that the economic aspects of ski resort development justify the environmental damage. Much better would be working out how countries and communities can get long term value from their environmental assets without destroying them." \