Swiss, Italians to change border due to melting ice

By William Atkins
Sunday, 29 March 2009 21:45

Science - Climate

Due to the warming of the global climate the snow and ice in and around The Matterhorn has been melting, which is spurring Italian and Swiss officials to re-draw the border between their two countries. This peaceful negotiation will result in a new border for the two countries, but elsewhere in the world other border changes caused by global warming could possibly be not so peaceful.


The last time the border line was drawn between Italy and Switzerland was in the year of 1861. The Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) was established in that year in order to create one country within the entire Italian Penisula.

However, over the past one hundred years or so, warmer conditions have prompted the ice and snow (within glaciers, permafrost) in and around the 4,478-meter (14,692-foot) tall Matterhorn, what is called “Cervino” in Italian, to slowly melt.

In the past twenty years or so glaciers are melting even more quickly.

According to the March 24, 2009 The Independent article Melting snow prompts border change between Switzerland and Italy, “... the border is moving because of the warmer climate,” as stated by Daniel Gutknecht, from the Federal Office of Topography in Switzerland."

The article further states, “The frontier will have to be shifted between a few metres and a hundred metres, but there will be no impact on border communities as the frontier, which is more than 4,000 metres above sea level, is well above any human habitation.”

The Federal Office of Topography, in Switzerland, and the Military Geographic Institute, in Italy, will together decide the final border in the Pennine Alps, which includes The Matterhorn

The Pennine Alps, a mountain range in the western part of the Alps, are located between Switzerland and Italy.

Page two discusses possible other locations in the world where border changes may need to be made in the future, and where less-than-peaceful conditions already exist.