スイス・アルプスで氷河の「葬送行進」　２５０人が喪服で登山

【メルスＡＦＰ＝時事】気候変動への懸念が世界各地で高まる中、スイスのアルプス山脈で22日、氷河の消失を悼む「葬送行進」が行われた。黒い服に身を包んだ約250人は、重苦しい空気に包まれながら標高2700メートル付近まで後退した氷河の先端まで、2時間かけて山を登った。（写真はスイス東部にあるピツォル山で、消失する氷河の「葬儀」のため登山する人々）
　スイス東部、リヒテンシュタインとオーストリアとの国境近くにそびえるピツォル山を登る「葬列」の中には、子どもたちの姿も。
　「ピツォルに別れを告げるため、私たちはここに集った」。アルペンホルンの葬送の調べが響く中、雪氷学者のマティアス・フス氏が告げると、山麓の村メルスのエリック・ペトリーニ牧師が「神よ、気候変動に伴う計り知れない困難との闘いを助けたまえ」と祈りをささげた。
　スイス気候保護協会のアレッサンドラ・デジャコミ氏によれば、ピツォルの氷河は「そのほとんどを失い、科学的見地からはもはや氷河とは言えない」という。
　スイス・アルプスの氷河消失はピツォルが初めてではない。「１８５０年以降、われわれの推計では５００本もの氷河が完全に消失した。うち５０本は名前の付いた氷河だ」と、スイス連邦工科大学チューリヒ校で研究するフス氏は指摘する。それでも、ピツォルは「徹底的に研究されてきた氷河の消失は初めてと言える」という。
　ピツォルでは２００６年以降だけで８０～９０％の氷河が失われ、今や残っているのはわずか２万６０００平方メートル。フス氏の言葉を借りれば「サッカー場４面分に満たない」。
　スイス氷河モニタリングネットワークによると、スイスの氷河の８割近くはピツォルのような、「小氷河」と呼ばれる比較的標高の低い場所にある小さな氷河だ。アルプスにはこうした氷河が約４０００本点在し、雪解け水で数百万人もの人々を潤すとともに、欧州でも指折りの絶景を生み出している。
　しかし、フス氏らスイス連邦工科大の科学者たちは４月、温室効果ガス排出量を抑制しない限りアルプスの氷河は今世紀末までに９割以上が消失すると警鐘を鳴らす研究結果を発表した。
　ピツォルの「葬送行進」について、国際環境保護団体グリーンピースなどでつくる主催団体は、気候変動が氷河を融解させるだけでなく「私たちの生活手段」をも脅かしていることに目を向けさせるきっかけとなると説明している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/09/24-08:49）

Dozens of people dressed in black went on a funeral march up a steep Swiss mountainside on Sunday to mark the disappearance of an Alpine glacier amid growing global alarm over climate change.
The Pizol has lost so much substance that from a scientific perspective it is no longer a glacier, Alessandra Degiacomi, of the Swiss Association for Climate Protection, told AFP ahead of the event.
Sunday's climb took place as the UN gathered youth activists and world leaders in New York to mull the action needed to curb global warming.
The solemn two-hour funeral march led up the side of Pizol mountain in northeastern Switzerland to the foot of the steep and rapidly melting ice formation, situated at an altitude of around 2,700 metres (8,850 feet) near the Liechtenstein and Austrian borders.
Upon arrival, a chaplain and several scientists were to give sombre speeches in remembrance of the glacier, accompanied by the mournful tones of alphorns -- a 3.6-metre (12-foot), pipe-shaped wooden instrument.
A wreath will be laid for the Pizol glacier, which has been one of the most studied glaciers in the Alps.
The move comes after Iceland made global headlines last month with a large ceremony and the laying of a bronze plaque to commemorate Okjokull, the island's first glacier lost to climate change.
- 500 glaciers gone -
But unlike Iceland, Sunday's ceremony does not mark the first disappearance of a glacier from the Swiss Alps.
Since 1850, we estimate that more than 500 Swiss glaciers have completely disappeared, including 50 that were named, Swiss glaciologist and march participant Matthias Huss told AFP before the event.
Pizol may not be the first glacier to vanish in Switzerland, but you could say it is the first to disappear that has been very thoroughly studied, Huss of the ETH technical university in Zurich said.
The logs kept since scientists began tracking the glacier in 1893 paint a bleak picture of recent rapid changes to the climate.
Pizol has lost 80-90 percent of its volume just since 2006, leaving behind a mere 26,000 square metres (280,000 square feet) of ice, or less than four football fields, Huss said.
Pizol, which sits at a relatively low altitude, was never very big.
According to Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, or GLAMOS, it, like nearly 80 percent of Swiss glaciers, has been considered a so-called glacieret.
- Greenhouse gas referendum -
It has figured among some 4,000 glaciers -- vast, ancient reserves of ice -- dotted throughout the Alps, providing seasonal water to millions and forming some of Europe's most stunning landscapes.
But Huss and other ETH scientists recently cautioned more than 90 percent of the Alpine glaciers could disappear by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reined in.
Regardless of what actions humans take now, the Alps will lose at least half of their ice mass by 2100, according to their study, published in April.
And in a subsequent study published earlier this month, the researchers indicated that the Alps' largest glacier, the mighty Aletsch, could completely disappear over the next eight decades.
Sunday's funeral for Pizol provides an occasion to point out that climate change is not only melting glaciers but is endangering our means of subsistence, according to the organising groups, including Greenpeace.
It is threatening human civilisation as we know it in Switzerland and around the world, they warn on the event webpage.
With this in mind, the Swiss Association for Climate Protection recently presented the 100,000 signatures needed to launch a popular initiative, to be put to a referendum, demanding that Switzerland reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.
The date for the vote has yet to be set, but the Swiss government in August said it supported the objective.