Switzerland and Italy have redrawn a section of their Alpine border due to the melting of glaciers caused by climate change, in the area around the Matterhorn – one of Europe’s highest mountains – and near several popular ski resorts including Zermatt, on Monday, the 30th of September, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
Large parts of the border between Switzerland and Italy are defined by glacier ridges or areas of perpetual snow, but melting glaciers have altered the natural boundaries, leading both countries to try to adjust the border.
Switzerland formally approved the change on Friday, but Italy has yet to do so, following a draft agreement drawn up in May 2023 by a joint Swiss-Italian commission.
Switzerland said the new border with Italy was defined in the economic interests of both countries and helps to define responsibilities for maintaining certain natural areas.
The exact border changes will be implemented, and the agreement will be published once it has been signed by both countries.
Statistics published last September showed that
SWISS GLACIERS LOST 4% OF THEIR VOLUME IN 2023, WHILE A RECORD 6% OF GLACIER MELT WAS RECORDED IN 2022.
The Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos) publishes an annual report each year attributing the record losses to successive very warm summers and very low snow levels in the winter of 2022. Researchers say that if these weather patterns continue, glacier melt will only accelerate.
Last year, Glamos warned that some Swiss glaciers are shrinking so fast that they are unlikely to be saved, even if global temperature rises do not exceed the +1.5 degrees set in the Paris climate agreement.The rapid melting of the Swiss glaciers has revealed many things. For example, in July 2023, the remains of a German mountaineer missing since 1986 were found near Matterhorn, as well as a hiking boot and crampons found on the Theodule glacier. In addition, in 2022, the wreckage of the 1968 plane crash was discovered near the Aletsch Glacier, and in 2014, the body of British climber Jonathan Conville was found near the Matterhorn by a helicopter pilot.
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