National Council Seeks Compromise on Biodiversity Initiative
Published: Monday, Sep 18th 2023, 17:40
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss National Council has voted to maintain its indirect counterproposal to the Biodiversity Initiative, which seeks to amend the Swiss Constitution to require more public funding for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and landscapes. The National Council voted 99 to 77 in favour of the counterproposal, with 6 abstentions. The counterproposal seeks to simplify existing instruments to improve biodiversity, rather than introducing new legal regulations for agriculture. It also seeks to place more responsibility on cities, rather than farmers. The Swiss Council of States had previously rejected the counterproposal, believing that the goals of the Montreal-Kunming Agreement on biodiversity could be achieved with existing instruments. The National Council believes that swift action is needed to halt the loss of biodiversity, and is hoping that the simplified counterproposal will motivate the Council of States to take up the proposal. The Swiss People's Party opposed the counterproposal, arguing that Switzerland does not have enough land to meet the goals of the initiative. The Environment Minister, Albert Rösti, supported the reduced counterproposal, arguing that the biodiversity crisis threatens the foundations of life. The National Council's proposal will be put to the Council of States for a second time, and if it is rejected again, the proposal will be dropped.
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