Pro Natura, founded in 1909 in

Basel Basel ( , ), also known as Basle ( ),french: Bâle ; it, Basilea ; rm, label= Sutsilvan, Basileia; other rm, Basilea . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich a ...

as Swiss League for the Protection of Nature, is the oldest environmental organisation in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Pro Natura takes care of about 700

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s of various sizes throughout Switzerland (250 square kilometres, of which 60 square kilometres are owned by Pro Natura).

History

In 1909, representatives of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences founded the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature (German: ''Schweizerischen Bund für Naturschutz'', French: ''Ligue suisse pour la protection de la nature'') to fund and create the

Swiss National Park The Swiss National Park ( rm, Parc Naziunal Svizzer; german: Schweizerischer Nationalpark; it, Parco Nazionale Svizzero; french: Parc National Suisse) is located in the Western Rhaetian Alps, in eastern Switzerland. It is within the canton o ...

(inaugurated in 1914)."Pro Natura - au service de la nature depuis plus de 100 ans"
(page visited on 26 July 2016). In 2000, Pro Natura launched a campaign supporting the creation of a second Swiss National Park. In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in

Brunnen Brunnen is a resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, part of the municipality Ingenbohl (Canton of Schwyz), at . Brunnen railway station, on the Gotthard railway, is served by hourly InterRegio trains, and by lines S2 of the Stadtbahn Zug, wh ...

. It resulted in the creation of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

in 1948."Les 10 succès de Pro Natura"
(page visited on 26 July 2016). Between 1958 and 1963, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature, together with the Swiss Heritage Society and the

Swiss Alpine Club The Swiss Alpine Club (german: Schweizer Alpen-Club, french: Club Alpin Suisse, it, Club Alpino Svizzero, rm, Club Alpin Svizzer) is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 111 ...

, established an inventory of landscapes and natural sites of national importance. Based on it, the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governm ...

published the '' Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments'' in 1977. Since 1995, Pro Natura has been a member of the global environmental network

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

. In 1997, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature adopted the name Pro Natura.The choice of a name in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

allows the organisation to have a unique name across the four linguistic regions of Switzerland. Other organisations with similar names include Pro Helvetia, Pro Infirmis, Pro Juventute, Pro Patria, Pro Senectute, Pro Specie Rara, Pro Velo, etc.

Objectives

The four main objectives of Pro Natura are:"Pro Natura - Agir pour la nature, partout !"
(page visited on 26 July 2016). * Enhance

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') ...

* Ensure the

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

identities * Conserving natural resources * Increase the relationship with

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

They reach their objectives through: * Protection of nature at the political level (campaigns,

federal popular initiative In Switzerland, a popular initiative ( German: ''Volksinitiative'', French: ''Initiative populaire'', Italian: ''Iniziativa popolare'', Romansh: ''Iniziativa dal pievel'') allows the people to suggest law on a national, cantonal, and munic ...

s, etc.) * Nature protection in the field (

s) * Environmental education ( nature centres, activities for schools, etc.) * Communication (''Pro Natura

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combina ...

'')

Controversies

In 2020, 3 women left the Vaud division of Pro Natura, after having been subjected in 2018 and 2019 to behaviors cited as humiliating and demeaning by the executive secretary Michel Bongard. Although relieved of certain managerial functions, Bongard remains in office. According to the president of the Vaud chapter, Serge Fischer, who mentioned the possibility of filing a complaint because a confidentiality agreement had been established with the victims, the problem is limited to managerial errors. Despite the introduction of a charter for equality in December 2019, women remain a significant minority at the head of the organization.

Other

Pro Natura also draws public attention to grievances. The foundation started a media campaign in November 2014 calling for action by the federal authorities regarding excess inventory in the structures for breeding livestock and the

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplan ...

of fields, which has increased massively since the 1990s, particularly in the case of phosphorus.

Notes and references

External links