A report from the international organisation hits out at proposed developments in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and the Ukraine and describes them as having grave financial, environmental and social repercussions.
It also points out that the expansion of existing facilities should also be questioned, some of which are built illegally in protected areas. Many of the proposed developments are at 1,500 metres or below and therefore are at risk from uncertain snow cover due to climate change.
'A number of factors, including rising energy costs, climate change and external costs including water abstraction and biodiversity loss suggest that many of these areas warrant critical appraisal of long term costs and benefits, both in terms of profitability and public interest,' the report says.
The estimated 3,100 snow cannons in Europe consumer per year and hectare roughly one million litres of water and 260,000 kWh of electricity, that is roughly as much energy per year as a city of 150,000 inhabitants and as much water as a city the size of Hamburg, it reveals.
It also claims that some resorts are being built illegally. 'There are all too many cases, especially in Bulgaria, for example in the Pirin and Rila National Parks, or in Vitosha Nature Park near Sofia, where ski areas have been or are being constructed illegally, in violation of national and in many cases EU legislation,' it says.
It points out that in Romania, 102 resorts or developments have been planned, including in eight of the country's national parks, such as Retezat and Piatra Craiului, the country's flagship protected areas.
'Skiers have a basic moral responsibility not to support at least those ski areas with the greatest environmental impact, especially those that have been constructed illegally,' the report says.
And Andreas Beckman, Deputy Director of WWF's Danube-Carpathian programme, adds; '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.'
Species at risk from development include brown bears, wolves and lynx. In the Ukraine a €3 billion development at Bukovel in the Carpathian mountains is predicted to be one of the largest in the world 100,000 beds and 66 lifts threatens one of Europe's last great wilderness areas, the report claims.
The report calls on governments and developers to take a critical look at development plans and properly assess the financial, social and environmental costs.
It says property investors and holidaymakers can help too by avoiding ski areas that do not comply with basic criteria, including all ski facilities built in protected areas and those that do not comply with basic environmental safeguards and legislation.
'We risk having white elephants dotting our increasingly green mountains. These are expensive investments whose cost, both financial as well as social and environmental, exceed their supposed usefulness,' the report concludes.
