Impact assessment of proposed ski areas: A GIS approach integrating biological, physical and landscape indicators

Ski centres are characterized by significant environmental impacts that occur during both the construction and the operation phase. In Trentino, a well-known ski destination located in northern Italy, new ski areas were identified by planning tools without conducting a formal assessment of their effects on the environment. This paper presents a study to assess and compare the impacts of the proposed ski areas within two valleys strongly linked to winter tourism: the Fiemme and Fassa Valleys. The method is based on the computation of spatial indicators using a Geographical Information System (GIS) to predict and quantify critical impacts, such as ecosystem loss and fragmentation, soil erosion, geomorphologic hazards, interference with flora and fauna, and visibility. Subsequently, multicriteria analysis was applied to generate composite indices, and to rank ski areas according to their overall suitability. Finally, sensitivity analyses allowed to test the stability of the results. The study concluded that two of the proposed ski areas are located in highly unsuitable environment, and the relevant plan provisions should be revised.