Biodiversity: Turning crisis into opportunity

Preserving our local habitat

Unlike climate change, the biodiversity crisis has the big advantage that we can influence its effects on our habitat at a local level. It doesn’t matter if other countries get involved or not; we, as Swiss residents, can act to rapidly and substantially improve our country’s ecology. And it’s not just the wildlife that will benefit. We ourselves will reap the rewards of our efforts in the form of clean water, fertile soils and healthy food, and attractive countryside and cities that are even better equipped in the face of climate change.

Investing in nature and landscape conservation

Switzerland currently invests around 30 Swiss francs of public money per capita and year in nature and landscape conservation⁵, and our conservation areas are small in comparison with other European countries.⁶ According to experts, the remaining natural areas are nowhere near sufficient to preserve the diversity of our native species⁷. And significantly more funds are needed to maintain and restore ecologically rich areas.⁸

What is saving the last frogs and wild bees worth to us? How much would we pay to preserve our beautiful Swiss landscape? Are we talking 100 francs per inhabitant and year? Or more like 500 francs, or maybe even 1,000 francs? Transport alone receives over 2,000 francs of tax revenue per capita and year.⁵

If you take into account the external costs of the negative effects that transport has on the environment, nature and health, this sum increases by another ten billion francs annually.⁹ With biodiversity, however, most of the side-effects are positive for humans and nature alike. Free gains like these are known as ecosystem services.

Revitalising forests, cultivated land and rivers

The Aargau riverine forest reserve (Auenschutzpark) is a good example of how revitalisation projects can be successful quickly. In 1993, the residents of the Swiss canton Aargau decided to revitalise one percent of the region as a natural area¹⁰ and for the most part, they have now achieved this objective. Kingfishers take refuge there once again, and Aargau residents have access to splendid recreational areas right on their own doorstep.

Bird species in Swiss forests are also benefitting from conservation efforts. Biodiversity-friendly forestry approaches and an increased presence of deadwood has helped to increase the abundance of insectivorous species in recent decades.¹¹

Making residential areas more hospitable

Our residential areas are increasingly characterised by built-up and paved areas, monotonous lawns and lifeless gravel gardens. But it wouldn’t take much to “green up” such areas, which would make them nice to look at whilst enriching the wildlife.¹² Ultimately, this would also benefit our health as people surrounded by biodiverse gardens and green spaces are more productive, less stressed and have a longer life expectancy.¹³

Swiss national TV and radio broadcaster SRF has launched a national campaign on biodiversity called Mission B.¹⁴ Its call to action involves demonstrating what each and every one of us can do to promote the biodiversity in our community.

Make agriculture ecological

If you take a wander through the rural landscape of the Swiss Plateau, you may well see the colours of spring, but the fields and grassland are ecologically impoverished.^4,11 In an international assessment by experts published ten years ago, the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations call for a reversal of current trends and a move towards sustainable agriculture.¹⁵

The Swiss agricultural sector receives several billion francs each year in public funding.¹⁶ A new agricultural policy (Agrarpolitik 2022+) is currently being defined. We as taxpayers can ask for a more ecological agriculture that also benefits wild animals and plants.

Biodiversity as an opportunity

One thing is for sure: if nothing changes, we’ll see a large number of species die out in Switzerland over the next few decades – and experience firsthand how the basis of our very existence is disappearing at an ever-faster rate.

But if we can place a firm focus on implementing ecological agriculture, enlarge our nature reserves, revitalise our landscapes and make our residential areas greener, in 20 years’ time Switzerland will return to a similar level of biodiversity it had 50 years ago. And Switzerland Tourism’s advertising slogan “Switzerland. Get natural” will actually mean something again.