Swiss ‘biodiversity initiative’: extreme or essential for protecting nature?

On September 22 the Swiss will vote on a popular initiative on biodiversity. It calls for more protected natural areas with increased funding. The initiative would modify the constitution and is opposed by a broad alliance that considers it unnecessary. Switzerland, like the rest of the world, continues to lose biological diversity. Half of its ecosystems and one-third of its species are threatened. The trend is even more pronounced in Switzerland than in most other European countries, according to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). To combat this loss of biodiversity, nature and environmental organisations submitted the federal popular initiative “For the future of our nature and our landscape” in September 2020. Swiss citizens will vote on this proposal – also called the “biodiversity initiative” – on September 22. What does the initiative recommend? The initiative would add an article to the constitution obliging cantons and the federal government to increase ...