The operation of snow delivery by helicopter carried out Saturday in the ski resort of Luchon-Superbagnères (Haute-Garonne) was very criticized, including by the Minister of the Ecological and united Transition Elisabeth Borne, on Twitter. The Departmental Council, which ordered it, justifies this intervention by economic imperatives linked to the lack of snow. A meeting on the subject is to be held in Paris at the end of the week. Elisabeth Borne explains to 20 Minutes what she expects from it.
Why are you reacting this time, when this practice of transporting snow has already taken place several times in recent months?
By truck, in particular, yes, I had already had the opportunity to react in the past. But this time, the images of this helicopter are an electric shock for everyone. We see that these are really anti-ecological practices. The stations, which are victims of global warming, are making the situation worse by doing so. It is representative of the need for a cultural revolution. You can't play against nature. I'm going to reunite this weekend with Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, notably in charge of tourism, all the actors concerned to build a framework for this tourism.
What do you specifically expect from this meeting?
This will be an opportunity to take stock of the steps taken, but more broadly, an action plan is needed to support resorts in the face of climate change. We must anticipate the future of these medium and high mountain resorts, with the players.
Certain territorial actors are already working on the subject, in particular by developing artificial snow. Do you think this is a solution?
I think that we can find more sustainable solutions to evolve the stations. They have many assets for developing tourism over the four seasons, highlighting nature.
But are snow cannons not part of the solutions that will emerge from the meeting scheduled for the weekend?
It is clearly not a medium to long term solution. This is to deal with the emergency. We cannot deny the economic difficulties of local players, but we must support them towards another model. The Mer de Glace above Chamonix is currently shrinking by 10 meters per year. To imagine that we are going to play against nature is lost in advance. We must adapt to these developments by relying on nature.
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- Global warming
- Elisabeth Borne
- Planet
- Ski
- Snow
- Mountain