CIPRA representatives:

Personal tools

  Search filter  

Further Information

News

Olympic bid by Annecy: repercussions underestimated

Feb 16, 2011 / alpMedia
French environmental protection agencies have said that the "impact of the Olympic Games on the environment are widely underestimated in the application documents".
Olympic bid: no "green" Games in Annecy/F
Image caption:
Olympic bid: no "green" Games in Annecy/F © Isabelle Morisseau
In an open letter to the IOC Evaluation Committee, France Nature Environnement, Fédération Rhône Alpes de Protection de la Nature (FRAPNA) and CIPRA France have all warned about the major event's foreseeable repercussions.
Particularly affected are Chamonix/F, the Semnoz high-plateau and the Aravis Massif. Indeed, it appears that seven new sports facilities are now to be built even though the original dossier stipulated that existing venues would be used. For the Semnoz plateau this would mean that the artificial snow required on site would be produced using water from Lake Annecy 1200 m lower down.
In January CIPRA France withdrew from the Council for "Sustainable Development and the Environment". "The environmental compensation measures we called for such as the protection of the Aravis valley were not taken into account," explains Patrick Le Vaguerèse, representing CIPRA France in the council.
In July 2011 the IOC will decide whether the 2018 Winter Olympics are to be held in Munich/D, in the South Korean region of Pyeongchang or in Annecy.
Sources: www.cipra.org/fr/CIPRA/cipra-france/presse, www.lemonde.fr/sport/article/2011/02/07 (fr)
Filed under: sporting events, sport