from the shifts-of-Fortune-test-the-reliability-of-friends dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Way up in the snowy Alps, the border between Switzerland and Italy has shifted due to a melting glacier, putting the location of an Italian mountain lodge in dispute.
The borderline runs along a drainage divide—the point at which meltwater will run down either side of the mountain towards one country or the other.
But the Theodul Glacier's retreat means the watershed has crept towards the Rifugio Guide del Cervino, a refuge for visitors near the 3,480-meter (11,417-foot) Testa Grigia peak—and it is gradually sweeping underneath the building.
[...] When the refuge was built on a rocky outcrop in 1984, its 40 beds and long wooden tables were entirely in Italian territory.
But now two-thirds of the lodge, including most of the beds and the restaurant, is technically perched in southern Switzerland.
The issue has come to the fore because the area, which relies on tourism, is located at the top of one of the world's largest ski resorts, with a major new development including a cable car station being constructed a few meters away.
An agreement was hammered out in Florence in November 2021 but the outcome will only be revealed once it is rubber-stamped by the Swiss government—which will not happen before 2023.
[...] Where the Italian-Swiss border traverses Alpine glaciers, the frontier follows the watershed line.
But the Theodul Glacier lost almost a quarter of its mass between 1973 and 2010. That exposed the rock underneath to the ice, altering the drainage divide and forcing the two neighbors to redraw around a 100-meter-long stretch of their border.
[...] Former Swisstopo chief Jean-Philippe Amstein said such disputes are typically resolved by exchanging parcels of land of equivalent surface area and value.
In this case, "Switzerland is not interested in obtaining a piece of glacier," he explained, and "the Italians are unable to compensate for the loss of Swiss surface area".
[...] While some mid-altitude resorts are preparing for the end of Alpine skiing due to global warming, skiing is possible throughout the summer on the Zermatt-Cervinia slopes, even if such activities contribute to the glacier's retreat.
"That's why we have to enhance the area here because it will surely be the last one to die," said Trucco.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Barenflimski on Thursday July 28 2022, @02:10PM (1 child)
In America, you'd be sued for trespassing. You would have to file 79 different applications with every government entity from the local city to the federal government. You would need 306 hearings. 452 inspections.
It would be cheaper to burn the place down here in the States if this thing slid in from Canada.
I hope the Swiss are more accommodating.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2022, @12:12AM
From the linked story: