climate change
The Theodul Glacier is melting – and shifting the national border between Switzerland and Italy
Romantic panoramic view of the lower Theodul Glacier and the Matterhorn
© Ruth Tomlinson / Picture Alliance
Climate change is changing geography. Politicians don’t usually care about that. In one special case, however, the melting Theodul glacier is now causing political debates.
Lusio Tucco, owner of the Rifugio Teodulo mountain hut, has to ask himself which side he is actually on these days. On the Swiss or the Italian? The reason for this is the Theodul Glacier, near which the hut, which is actually on the Italian side, is located. The glacier has been melting for decades, dislocating the national borders between Switzerland and Italy.
The previous boundary line ran along a drainage divide. A point where the meltwater flows on either side of the mountain towards one land or another. At the time of its construction in 1984, the Rifugio Teodulo was still entirely on Italian territory. But because of the melting glacier, two thirds of the lodge, including most of the 40 beds and the restaurant, are now on the southern side of Switzerland.
Glacier melt actually not a political issue
Alain Wicht is the chief border officer at the Swiss mapping authority Swisstopo and is responsible for the 7,000 border markers along the 1,935-kilometer border between inland Switzerland and Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein. Between 1973 and 2010, the Theodul Glacier lost almost a quarter of its mass. This exposed the underlying rock to the ice, altering the watershed and forcing the two neighbors to redraw a 100-metre section of their boundary. A process that, according to Wicht, is completely normal and is usually regulated without politicians.
Now that the small mountain shack is involved, however, things get complicated because it adds “economic value” to a country that is normally dependent on tourism. Wicht’s Italian counterparts declined to comment “due to the complex international situation.”
But even for such cases there is a simple solution, as Jean-Philippe Amstein, a former Swisstopo boss, tells the “Guardian”. The countries concerned exchange plots of land with the same area and value. But in this case, “Switzerland is not interested in getting a piece of glacier,” he says, and “the Italians are unable to compensate for the loss of Swiss area.”
Border has long been a contentious issue between Switzerland and Italy
There were already diplomatic talks about the border in 2018. However, at that time it was about a cable car station that was to be built a few meters away from the world’s largest ski area. In 2021 both parties agreed in Florence. However, the details are still secret and will remain so until the Swiss government has approved the result. According to the Guardian, that won’t happen before 2023.
However, there is good news for the 51-year-old caretaker of the mountain hut. The retreat will remain Italian because the owner has always been Italian. “The menu is Italian, the wine is Italian and the taxes are Italian,” he says.
Only on the maps from Swisstopo does the solid pink band of the Swiss border initially remain a dashed line when it passes the refuge.
Source: “The Guardians”