Switzerland must act to better protect biodiversity, nature, the diversity of landscapes and beautiful sites, even outside protected areas. The Biodiversity Initiative committee launched its campaign on Tuesday, with a view to the September 22 vote.
The initiative “For the future of our nature and our landscape” (Biodiversity initiative) calls for sufficient resources and areas for nature. She also wants to anchor better protection of the landscape and built heritage in the Constitution.
Diverse nature mitigates the consequences of climate change. It also guarantees the purity of the air, drinking water, pollination, soil fertility and food, noted to the media the French-speaking director of Pro Natura, Sarah Pearson Perret.
“Biodiversity is going bad”
However, for the committee, “in Switzerland, biodiversity is doing badly and our source of life is in danger. Nearly half of natural environments and more than a third of our animal and plant species are threatened with disappearance or are already extinct” .
“This has serious consequences for our health, for the economy and for the future of our children and grandchildren,” said Pro Natura director Urs Leugger. But it is still possible to reverse the trend.
He detailed that, since 1900, 7,600 km2 of natural environments rich in species, such as dry meadows, alluvial zones and marshes, have disappeared, the equivalent of the cantons of Jura and Fribourg. And cite as causes the drainage of wetlands and the development of waterways, intensive exploitation, invasive neophytes, a lack of means to maintain protected areas and climate change.
Landscapes under pressure
The committee stressed that landscapes are also under pressure due to concreting, land sprawl and new construction. This is despite the fact that they are a tourist asset and contribute to the appeal of Switzerland as a place to live and an economic location.
Who says landscape not only means natural space, but also coexistence of natural and urban spaces, said Franziska Grossenbacher, deputy director of the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Protection and Planning. However, “across the country, beautiful sites are disfigured and buildings worthy of protection are demolished.”
According to Raffael Ayé, director of BirdLife, it is possible to reconcile exploitation and protection of nature. And to cite a production forest in Boudry (NE) or constructions in an urban environment in Meyrin (GE).
Act now
The committee demands action now. Otherwise, species extinction will result in astronomical costs. According to estimates from the Federal Council, they would reach between 14 and 16 billion francs per year by 2050.
Biodiversity has nothing to do with left or right, urban or rural, wealth or poverty
“The insufficiency of current measures in favor of biodiversity will cost us much more than the implementation of the initiative”, according to national advisor Matthias Jauslin (PLR/AG), of the Swiss Foundation for Protection and Conservation. landscape design.
For him, “biodiversity has nothing to do with left or right, urban or rural, wealth or poverty”. And to remember that, in the bourgeois camp, the Swiss Women’s Center is also for it.
The committee is made up of seven main organizations, including Pro Natura, Patrimoine Suisse, the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Protection and Planning and BirdLife. It is supported by more than 60 partner organizations, 24 cantonal committees and 164 local groups.
ats/kkub
