![The Morteratsch Glacier tongue receded by 2,185 m from 1900 to 2010. It has since almost entirely disappeared.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/morteratsch-ohne-fuellung-klein-1-300x225.jpg)
The human right to be cold
The climate-induced melting of Switzerland’s glaciers is not just an environmental issue, the legal implications are also huge. National sovereignty, the cornerstone of fundamental constitutional rights, is suddenly on thin ice (pardon the pun). Climate change impacts a whole host of international human rights. This raises the question of how we in Switzerland can guarantee the next global generation’s right to be cold irrespective of national borders.
![The human remains of a couple who went missing in 1942, Tsanfleuron Glacier, 2017.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/gletscherarchaologie-1-300x222.jpg)
![Morteratsch Glacier, photos taken by Jürg Alean on 10. 7.1985, 8. 7.2007 and 9. 7.2021.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/gletscher-klein-1-300x225.jpg)
![The Theodul Glacier used to mark the border between Switzerland and Italy.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/karte-3-1-300x150.jpg)
![Portrait of the activist by Chris Windeyer in Canada, 2010.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/watt-1-300x225.jpg)
![Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Seeking Relief from Violations Resulting from Global Warming Caused by Acts and Omissions of the United States, presented by Sheila Watt Cloutier, Canada, 2005.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/petition-2-1-232x300.jpg)
The Swiss Confederation is committed to the long term preservation of natural resources.