Swiss vote on biodiversity and pension reform

Voters will decide today whether Switzerland should better protect natural areas and allocate more funds to strengthen dwindling biodiversity. A complex proposal to reform the occupational pension scheme is also going to a vote. Switzerland boasts stunning natural scenery, yet half of its ecosystems and one-third of its species are under threat. And this decline in biodiversity is more pronounced than in most other European countries, according to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). On Sunday, the Swiss will vote on a biodiversity initiative, launched by nature and environmental protection groups in 2020, that calls for greater efforts to improve this situation. Biodiversity is “our source of life” and current protective measures are insufficient, say the supporters of the initiative. “Biodiversity in Switzerland is in a catastrophic state, all the reports say so,” Julien Perrot, a member of the initiative committee and founder of the La Salamandre environmental magazine ...