Melting glaciers force Switzerland and Italy to redraw part of Alpine border | Climate crisis

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    Melting glaciers force Switzerland and Italy to redraw part of Alpine border

    Two countries agree to modifications beneath Matterhorn peak, one of Europe’s highest summits

    Switzerland and Italy have redrawn a border that traverses an Alpine peak as melting glaciers shift the historically defined frontier.

    The two countries agreed to the modifications beneath the Matterhorn, one of the highest mountains in Europe, which straddles Switzerland’s Zermatt region and Italy’s Aosta valley.

    Glaciers in Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, are retreating at an accelerated pace because of human-caused climate breakdown.

    “Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or ridge lines of glaciers, firn or perpetual snow,” the Swiss government said in a statement cited by Bloomberg. “These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers.”

    The famed Zermatt ski resort is affected by the change, with the two countries agreeing to modify the border around the landmarks of Testa Grigia, Plateau Rosa, Rifugio Carrel and Gobba di Rollin based on their economic interests, Bloomberg reported.

    https://pixelfed.zoo-logique.org/storage/m/_v2/578583396227231930/586f75268-5004eb/u2JEvxzivmNL/gO3M5HHXkssVVnOHHuc3XSJalIfeKPnfk2otfOX4.png

    A joint Italian-Swiss commission agreed to the changes in May 2023. Switzerland officially approved the treaty on Friday, but Italy still needs to sign.

    The changes come after a disagreement between the two countries over the peak’s territory that lasted for years.

    Swiss glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, the second-biggest annual decline on record, according to the Swiss Academy of Sciences. The largest decline was 6% in 2022.

    Experts have stopped measuring the ice on some Swiss glaciers because there is none left.

    The remains of a German mountain climber who disappeared while crossing a glacier near the Matterhorn nearly 40 years ago were discovered in melting ice in July last year.

    Experts in Italy said this month that the Marmolada glacier, which is the largest and most symbolic of the Dolomites, could melt completely by 2040 as a result of rising average temperatures.

    The collapse of part of the Marmolada killed 11 people in 2022.

    The glacier has been measured every year since 1902 and is considered a “natural thermometer” of climate change.

    ▻https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/29/melting-glaciers-switzerland-italy-alpine-border-matterhorn
    #frontières #frontière_mobile #Suisse #Italie #Alpes #Matterhorn #Cervin #visualisation #fonte_des_glaciers #glaciers #Zermatt #traité

    ping @reka

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    • @cdb_77
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      Switzerland and Italy redraw border due to melting glaciers

      Switzerland and Italy have redrawn part of their border in the Alps due to melting glaciers, caused by climate change.

      Part of the area affected will be beneath the Matterhorn, one of Europe’s tallest mountains, and close to a number of popular ski resorts.

      Large sections of the Swiss-Italian border are determined by glacier ridgelines or areas of perpetual snow, but melting glaciers have caused these natural boundaries to shift, leading to both countries seeking to rectify the border.

      Switzerland officially approved the agreement on the change on Friday, but Italy is yet to do the same. This follows a draft agreement by a joint Swiss-Italian commission back in May 2023.

      Statistics published last September showed that Switzerland’s glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, the second biggest loss ever after 2022’s record melt of 6%.

      An annual report is issued each year by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos), which attributed the record losses to consecutive very warm summers, and 2022 winter’s very low snowfall. Researchers say that if these weather patterns continue, the thaw will only accelerate.

      On Friday, Switzerland said that the redefined borders had been drawn up in accordance with the economic interests of both parties.

      It is thought that clarifying the borders will help both countries determine which is responsible for the upkeep of specific natural areas.

      Swiss-Italian boundaries will be changed in the region of Plateau Rosa, the Carrel refuge and Gobba di Rollin - all are near the Matterhorn and popular ski resorts including Zermatt.

      The exact border changes will be implemented and the agreement published once both countries have signed it.

      Switzerland says that the approval process for signing the agreement is under way in Italy.

      Last year, Glamos warned that some Swiss glaciers are shrinking so fast that it is unlikely they can be saved, even if global temperatures are kept within the Paris climate agreement’s 1.5C target rise.

      Experts say that without a reduction in greenhouse gases linked to global warning, bigger glaciers like the Aletsch - which is not on the border - could disappear within a generation.

      A number of discoveries have been made on Swiss glaciers in recent years due to their melting and rapid shrinking.

      Last July, human remains found close to Matterhorn were confirmed to be those of a German climber missing since 1986.

      Climbers crossing the Theodul glacier above Zermatt noticed a hiking boot and crampons emerging from the ice.

      In 2022, the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 1968 emerged from the Aletsch glacier.

      And the body of missing British climber Jonathan Conville was discovered in 2014 by a helicopter pilot who spotted something unusual while delivering supplies to a mountain refuge on the Matterhorn.

      ▻https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk7r0rrdnmo

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