Raffaella Wbalzarini (p), Emanuelle George, Véronique Reynier, Thomas Spiegelberger

Lucas Berard-chenu

Mountain resorts are now facing global change, and in particular its climatic declination. Various studies, including those of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), highlight the negative impacts of global warming on snow conditions in resorts. Faced with this vulnerability, the economic model of the resorts is at stake and more broadly the future of mountain territories, in terms of tourist attractiveness, maintaining populations, activities and services. In this context, mountain resorts, intended as resorts and associated territories, must define transition solutions to ensure a viable and inclusive future. However, this objective is not easy to achieve, due to the presence in mountain resorts of a diversity of actors with varied and sometimes divergent interests, and also due to the lack of a reference framework for action on transition.
In view of this finding, which is shared at the Alpine Arc level, transition support programs are emerging and are being implemented through transnational projects.
This communication presents one of these projects, TranStat, which bring Academics and StakeHolders, including citizens, to work together in a few mountain resorts, called Living Labs (LL) in a participatory approach in order to identify the challenges to be addressed, and to elaborate scenarios and co-constructed solutions. In each LL, future development scenarios will be built, based on economic evaluation, ecological solutions, social behaviour analysis, climate change monitoring and implement and test solutions. Within the project, new tools and methodologies are designed to adress the needs of mountain resorts in setting up transition process. Having a holistic vision of the Alps, this transnational project will propose policy briefs at local and at alpine scale. It will support the adoption of policies at regional and national levels to foster the implementation of transition processes in order to integrate economic diversification and quality of life for the population.
Through the European project Alpine Space TranStat, this paper proposes to discuss the scientific approaches and methodological challenges involved in the implementation of transition processes.

Emmanuel Salim (p), Leïla Kebir

Raffaella Balzarini

Mountain territories, and especially upper valleys have been the subject of different economic dynamics since more than two centuries, leading some remote territories to become international resorts or tourist spots. Glaciers are a particularly good example of this evolution: from a mostly negative perception by inhabitants before the XVIIIe century, they became highly attractive places with tourism development. However, current climate change, resulting in a drastic shrinkage of glaciers around the world could transform the value of glaciers. In this context, it seems important to understand how environmental changes can and could transform some tourist territories by influencing their resource. Drawing on a relational and territorial approach of the resource, the aim of this conference paper is to present the processes leading to the construction of glaciers as cultural and economic resources, and how those processes are nowadays put to question and reoriented by the consequences of climate change.

Lucas Berard-chenu (p), Hugues François, Emmanuelle George

Emmanuel Salim

Winter sports is a multi-billion USD industry and a major source of income for many mountain communities. Ski destinations rely on favorable atmospheric and snow conditions that make them vulnerable to climate change. Ski tourism is expected to be negatively affected by future climate change. Snowmaking is the main adaptation strategy used by ski destinations and has reduced the negative impacts of climate change. However snowmaking technologies are projected to be less effective in a warmer climate in reducing risks to ski tourism. Diversification strategy, offering non-snow recreation options, also supports adaptation in mountainous regions under future climate change, changing tourist behaviour and demand pattern. Diversification strategies face the inertia of mountain economic systems to sustainable adapt. A better understanding of transition pathways of mountain economies trajectories is a key issue to accelerate the decarbonisation of alpine destinations.