It would appear that Italy and Switzerland have agreed to redraw the border thanks to warmer weather melting the Theodul Glacier in the Alps.
This means that an area, approximately 100 metres long near to the popular ski resort of Zermatt and close to the Matterhorn will basically move from one country to the other although it hasn’t been confirmed which way it will go.
Climate change causes Italy/Swiss border change
It is anticipated however that the Swiss will see their border move into an area previously part of Italy, but nothing can be confirmed until such time as the document is signed by each country.
The Swiss approved the general concept in late September based upon a discussion held in 2023 but until such time as it is formally ratified by the Italian Government no official declaration can take place.
This is not the first, nor likely to be the last, time that borders have been altered but it is relatively unusual for this to take place because of melting glaciers rather than act of invasion!
Retreating ice due to climate change left lodge straddling two countries
What brought this particular matter to a head was over the position of a mountain lodge which when the ice retreated was discovered to actually straddle the border between the two countries.
‘Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or the ridge lines of glaciers, firn (crystalline or granular snow), or perpetual snow and these formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers” explained the Swiss government in a statement.
Not first border redraw due to climate change
This is clearly an ongoing problem that the two countries have to deal with thanks to climate change as in 2000, in Furggsattel, also near Zermatt, the border was also rewritten, after a glacier moved somewhere between 100 to 150 metres meaning that a chairlift station that had once been in Italy was now in Switzerland.
Whilst western Europe is suffering from glacial loss, this is nothing compared to the problems facing Greenland which is losing about 270 billion tons of ice per year and Antarctica which is losing 150 billion tons per year adding to the rise in sea levels which whilst disastrous to some Pacific nations could seriously affect larger countries such as Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands.
