European Borders Threatened by Climate Change

Europe’s borders are being threatened by climate change, according to the contents of a proposed Italian law.  Global warming, it says, is reducing European alpine glaciers to such an extent that the border lines around Switzerland and Italy need to be reset.  One section of Italy’s parliament has already given its approval to the implementation of this law.

The line that divides up Italy from Switzerland extends for over 450 miles, predominantly through the Alps, and has been in place for almost 150 years.  During the Second World War, the two nations agreed that the ridge crest of the alpine glaciers should mark the true point of separation while, during the 1970s, the construction of a motorway between Italy and Switzerland further solidified the divide.

Now, however, immense alterations are necessary – experts representing the Swiss Office of Topography and the Military Geographic Institute in Italy say, on account of the recent and dramatic reduction in size of the so-called “cryosphere”, which is made up of permafrost, snow and glaciers and topped with ice. 

"In one case...the border has shifted from 100 to 150 meters [328 to 492 feet], over a length of about one kilometre”, the Office of Topography’s national border coordinator, Daniel Gutknecht, stated in comments provided to Discovery News. 

Impact of Climate Change

Italy and Switzerland now concede the impact of climate change on the edges of their countries.  However, Swiss law does not require the implementation of new terms to adjust its borders, whereas Italian law demands that new terms are approved by parliament before any changes can be made.   Any kind of border amendment would not have any effect on nationality, since the dividing-line passes through remote, mountainous areas 13,000 feet up, where no one lives.

The whole concept is to develop border lines demarcated by climate change and, thus, which are flexible to future environmental effects.  The plan, therefore, is to re-evaluate the borders regularly, and adjust them if appropriate.

“We will proceed to new measurements every two or three years, but we hope that no update will be needed for the next 50 years”, Gutknecht explained.

Italian Swiss Border

If the worst happens and the glaciers are entirely lost, rock will instead be used as a measure of the Italian/ Swiss border.  “To lighten the climate, we can say that rocks are patriotic and faithful through the centuries”, the Italy of Principles’ Fabio Evagelisti asserted.

It is anticipated that the proposed Italian law will be awarded Senate approval in the months to come.