Melting glaciers force Italy and Switzerland to redraw border in Alps

Temperatures across Europe’s biggest mountain range rising at about 0.3C per decade — about twice as fast as global average

The melting of glaciers in the Alps has forced Italy and Switzerland to redraw the border that runs between them in the shadow of the Matterhorn.
The frontier between the two countries has traditionally been delineated by the watershed, the point at which meltwater flows down towards one nation or the other.
But rising temperatures caused by climate change are melting a glacier in the area, meaning that the watershed is shifting.
“Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or the ridge lines of glaciers, ‘firn’ or perpetual snow,” the Swiss government said in a statement. “These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers.”
“Firn” is a Swiss German word that means the granular snow that accumulates on the upper part of a glacier, before it is compressed into ice.
The affected area is part of the Zermatt ski resort, where skiers and hikers can cross freely between Switzerland and Italy’s Valtournenche valley.
The two countries have agreed to alter the border around the landmarks of Testa Grigia, Plateau Rosa, Gobba di Rollin and Rifugio Carrel, a mountain hut situated at 3,830 metres (12,565ft).
Switzerland has approved the border change while Italy still has to officially sign off on the alterations.
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Swisstopo, Switzerland’s national mapping agency, says that the country’s borders with Italy, France, Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein have to be amended fairly frequently.
The changes are normally based on readings taken by surveyors, without politicians getting involved.
Across the Alps, glaciers are melting at alarming rates. In the summer of 2022, 11 hikers were killed in the Italian Dolomites when a large chunk of rock and ice broke off from the Marmolada glacier, the biggest in the Dolomites.
Scientists said recently that the glacier is now in an “irreversible coma” and predicted that it could disappear completely by 2040.
Temperatures across the Alps are rising at about 0.3C per decade – about twice as fast as the global average.
Unless greenhouse gas emissions can be dramatically curbed, glaciers in the Alps are expected to shrink by up to 90 per cent by the end of the century, scientists say.