New Delhi (NVI): Rifugio Guide del Cervino, is a bar and restaurant atop the Plateau Rosa, a glacial ridge in the Italian Alps. Or at least, it was. Climate change is moving it inexorably towards Switzerland as the glacier on which it sits steadily melts.
When the Rifugio was built in 1984, it was on the Italian side of the border. Since then, climate change, accelerated by the 2003 European heatwave which caused Alpine glaciers to lose 10 percent of their mass, has led to the glacier retreating towards Switzerland.
News reports about people and wildlife forced to move by the effects of climate change usually does the rounds, but in this corner of the Alps, climate change is literally moving the border between Italy and Switzerland.
In 2009, Italy and Switzerland agreed their border should be mobile, shifting to accommodate changes caused by glacial melting. Movements are monitored using GPS sensors allowing the border to be redrawn as the ice moves.
The moving border has shifted over the last fifteen years since its creation as glaciers retreat and this restaurant may now be in Swiss territory, according to media reports.
If decided to be in Switzerland, the restaurant would be subject to Swiss law, taxes, and potentially even customs; Swiss inspectors would need to approve every box of pasta and package of coffee brought up to the restaurant by cable car from Italy.
Shrinking glaciers are one of the most visible demonstrations of the effects of global warming. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the amount of ice lost since 1980 is equivalent to removing a 24-metre slice off the top of each glacier.
Global temperatures are estimated to have risen by at least 1°C above pre-industrial levels, and experts warn urgent action is needed to curb emissions. A rise above 1.5°C will cause glaciers in Asia, for example, to shrink by two-thirds by the end of the century.
-CHK
