Why do Italy and Switzerland have to redraw the border?

Part of the border between Italy and Switzerland is to be redrawn as the glaciers that mark the border between the two countries melt .

The Matterhorn in the Alps. (Photo: Getty Images).

The two neighboring countries have agreed to change their border below the Matterhorn, one of the highest peaks in the Alps. While national boundaries are often considered fixed, much of the Swiss-Italian border is demarcated by glaciers and snowfields. " With the melting of glaciers, these natural elements will change and redefine national borders , " the Swiss government stressed on September 27.

CNN (USA) reported that Switzerland and Italy had agreed on border changes in 2023 and the Swiss government officially approved the adjustment on September 27. The approval process is currently underway in Italy.

According to the Swiss government, as soon as both sides sign the agreement, it will be announced and details of the new border will be made public.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, and the impact on glaciers is huge. In Switzerland alone, glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. The country's glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, second only to the record 6% in 2022. Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, said the downward trend shows no signs of ending.

Half of the world's glaciers could disappear by 2100. It's causing a cascade of impacts, leading to dangerous landslides and ice collapses. In 2022, 11 people died when a glacier collapsed in the Italian Alps.

Changes in glaciers also impact freshwater supplies, exacerbating water shortages during heat waves.

Mr Huss said the shifting of national borders was 'a small side effect' of melting glaciers . But it reflected a direct impact on the world map that made the vast changes of a warming world more apparent.