Switzerland to change border with France due to melting glaciers
It comes after the glaciers were found to have lost 4% volume in 2023
Much of the Franco-Swiss border is marked by mountain glaciers and water (a view of the Matterhorn, in the Valais canton)
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Switzerland is to change its border with France to account for glaciers that are melting as a result of climate change.
The Swiss Federal Council (the Swiss government) approved the border change on September 27, reports Swiss news outlet Léman Bleu. Switzerland’s border with Italy will also change.
The decision was made jointly with all three countries, after a commission meeting held in May 2023 to address border issues affected by melting glaciers in the Valais canton in southern Switzerland, and the Aosta Valley region in north-west Italy.
The changes are minor, meaning that the government can make the decision, as long as its neighbours agree.
The countries’ surface area will be “equivalent”, the Swiss government said.
Read also: Row over France-Switzerland cross border workers’ unemployment benefit
Melting glacier ridges
The borders are changing because several border ‘lines’ in Switzerland are directly associated with glacier ridges. However, some of these key glaciers are melting, thought to result from global warming.
As the glacier melts and changes, so does the border line.
A 2023 report, the Glamos Swiss Glacier Observation Network, said that Swiss glaciers had lost 4% of their volume during that year; the greatest loss since 2022, when 6% was recorded.
The most affected regions are the Tete Grise/Plateau Rosa, Cabane Carrel, and Dos de Rollin.
In the canton of Geneva, along the Franco-Swiss border, there will also be slight changes, as demarcated by the cross-border tram line between the municipalities of Perly-Certoux (in Switzerland) and Saint-Julien-en-Genevois (in France).
Geneva shares a 103-kilometre border with France, 50 km of which are located in rivers.
