As the United Nations marks 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation, a catastrophic event in Switzerland's Valais region has become a grim symbol of climate urgency. The sudden collapse of the Bircher Glacier last week buried the village of Blatten under millions of tons of ice and rock – one of the largest glacial landslides recorded in modern European history.
Professor Daniel Farinotti of ETH Zurich told RAZOR: "What we're witnessing isn't gradual melting but systemic collapse. The Alps have warmed 2°C since pre-industrial times – double the global average." His team from WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is racing to model the disaster, hoping to predict future risks as 10% of Switzerland's glacier volume vanished this year alone.
While glacial retreat reveals ancient artifacts and landscapes, scientists warn these discoveries come at dire cost. The UN initiative aims to mobilize global preservation efforts, but as Blatten's residents sift through frozen rubble, the question remains: Can policy match the pace of geological transformation reshaping Asia's Himalayas, South America's Andes, and polar regions simultaneously?
