How and to what extent does climate change affect mountain areas? We are talking about it in Saint-Vincent today (Thursday 13th), during the conference “Renewable energy at the service of the territory and climate impact in mountain areas: local solutions for European sustainable development”, organized by the ENVE Commission, in collaboration with the Region Valle d’Aosta. 2023 was the warmest year in decades. Rising temperatures are the direct cause of climate change and also bring with it other consequences. «We have detected common trends – says Hans-Martin Füssel, climate change adaptation expert at the EEA-European Environment Agency –, such as the increase in drought periods. What happens at the water level can also have repercussions on other aspects, such as the economic one». Landslides, floods, mudslides are just some of the consequences of climate change in the mountain area, which is becoming increasingly fragile. But not only. The consequences can also affect the tourism aspectwith the decrease in snowfall penalizing winter tourism, while the lack of rain also affects the production of hydroelectric energy.
And Valle d’Aosta is not immune to these problems. «The Alps are warming twice as fast as the global average – says Marta Galvagno, biometeorologist at ARPA Valle d’Aosta – unfortunately we will continue to heat up if we don’t do something by reducing greenhouse gas emissions”. The Alpine territory, and also that of the Aosta Valley, thus find themselves having to manage a delicate situation. «Today we find ourselves fighting against the depopulation of the mountains and having to live with uncomfortable situations, such as frequent landslides. The territory is something to be preserved every day and we know it well, we have communities of 200-300 people living at the top of the valleys – says the president of the Region, Renzo Testolin –. We need to create a path to protect the environment and clean energyin the last decade hydroelectric energy has become a point of reference among renewable energies and the territories that produce it can be the managers of this energy, I believe that this is a bit of a mantra to bring to Europe: the strength that the territories can have on their territory.”
