Biodiversity is still not a concept taken very seriously in the Swiss Parliament. In 2021, it was decided, as part of a series of orders from the Federal Council, that each agricultural land must leave 3.5% of surface area to protect biodiversity, from 2024.
This is a promise that was made before the vote on the initiative against synthetic pesticides, refused by the people in June 2021. But agricultural circles have always been reluctant to apply this measure, which had already been postponed this year .
Former national councilor Jean-Pierre Grin (UDC/VD) tabled a motion in 2022 to remove the 3.5% obligation. He had cited the war in Ukraine and the loss of some 14,000 hectares (out of 400,000) for indigenous production in a context of food crisis.
The Federal Council rather mentioned an area of 9,400 hectares, thanks to cereal crops with spaced sowing. No matter, it was still too much. The agricultural world finally obtained what it had been looking for for two years. The 3.5% is definitively abandoned, according to a decision of the Council of States this Tuesday by 25 votes to 16. The National had already spoken out during the spring session.
“Parliament is not keeping its promise made to the people ahead of the vote on the initiative for drinking water and against pesticides,” reacted this Tuesday the nature protection associations, WWF, Pro Natura, Greenpeace and Birdlife. This violation of the principle of good faith weakens confidence in politics.”
These associations do not hesitate to mention the “dramatic state of biodiversity” in Switzerland: “If Parliament wants to achieve the objective of reducing pesticides and nutrient losses other than with the 3.5% of surface area for biodiversity, other solutions must be found without further delay so that effective measures can be implemented.
They recall that the Swiss people will vote in September on an initiative aimed at defending biodiversity: “The decision taken today goes against the desire to commit to biodiversity that the world had announced agricultural. The biodiversity initiative is all the more necessary: agriculture must not save biodiversity alone, but it must certainly contribute to its rescue.
