Climate change is putting glacier tourism at risk. A vital industry for local communities could disappear. A researcher at the University of Lausanne has come up with solutions to ensure this doesn’t happen. Every year, glaciers draw millions of people to the Alps in Europe and to other regions of the planet, from North America to New Zealand. Glacier tourism is a source of income for local communities. Ski resorts, hotels, and mountain guides depend directly or indirectly on the presence of glaciers. Even local infrastructure is built around glaciers. In Switzerland, glaciers helped to prompt the birth of Alpine tourism and inspired the development of cable cars and ski lifts. The Jungfrau Railway, opened in 1912, was built in part to make the glaciers in the Bernese and Valais Alps more accessible. However, glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate due to climate change. Many could disappear almost entirely in the coming decades. This is among the reasons why the United ...
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