Winter Olympics Report 10: Sacred Wood

This year’s Winter Games in Milan have seen a frenzy of deforestation. In his latest report, Matt Rendell explores what exactly it is we’re destroying when we take away the forest.

In order to build new facilities for the 2026 Winter Olympics, swathes of old-growth larch trees have been felled. While facilities built for the 2006 winter Games in Turin lie abandoned, forest ecosystems are being decimated.

By partnering with high-carbon polluters, as well as causing large amounts of deforestation, the Games have shown how little respect this mega-event has for the natural and cultural landscape.

Throughout the Games, Matt Rendell will be speaking with locals about the environmental and social impacts of the Milano-Cortina Olympics.