Nature protection and biodiversity - Drivers and pressures (Switzerland)

Human beings shape their habitat. For centuries, people have created different kinds of landscapes and thereby indirectly encouraged species diversity. The diversity of cultural landscapes reached its peak at the dawn of industrialisation and has since diminished. Since the mid-20th century this decline has even begun to accelerate.

Agriculture remains the dominant form of land use in Switzerland. Cropland accounts for 37 % of the country’s area. Nevertheless, settlements are expanding, with an annual increase of 27 km2 in the 1980s and 1990s. The most recent figures from western Switzerland show a decline in arable land and a substantial increase in pasture land in Switzerland’s areas of permanent settlement (State of the landscape in Switzerland). This marks the beginning of a certain shift towards more extensive agricultural practices. In Alpine regions, inaccessible sites that are difficult to farm are in the process of reverting to wild vegetation.

The free and open use of ecosystem services is placing pressure on biodiversity, as its goods and services coming from natural systems are being overexploited.

Forest ecosystems have been benefiting in many cases from low use of wood as a resource due to low prices and difficult accessibility of many forest areas. They have further benefited from a severe storm called Lothar in 1999, which led to large areas of regrowing forests. On the other hand, pressure is mounting due to intensification and monocultures for wood production.

In the hydropower sector, problems are increasing due to conflicting requirements and environmental priorities. While more then 1000 small hydropower stations produce a considerable amount of climate-friendly and sustainable energy, problems of low residual water flow persist.