Ice giants in crisis
Glaciers are in retreat. Researchers predict that up to 85% of the 1,400 glaciers currently found in Switzerland will disappear by 2100 – and that is under the most positive climate scenario. The ice is melting at an alarming pace that has accelerated significantly since the dawn of the industrial age. Since the 1990s it has been shrinking at a disastrous speed. The Aletsch Glacier alone – the largest in the Alps – has shrunk by over a kilometre in the last 30 years or so.
The disappearance of these ice giants is a hammer blow to the heart, but also poses a very real threat. Glaciers effectively hold the mountains together, as well as storing huge quantities of water. If one day they cease to be there, the risk of mudslides, landslides and rock falls will go up. Drinking water will be scarce, and hydroelectric power stations will no longer be supplied with water.