Pro Natura, founded in 1909 in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

as Swiss League for the Protection of Nature, is the oldest

environmental organisation An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. 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, funga, or features of geologic ...

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 (; ; ; ) is located in the Western Rhaetian Alps, in eastern Switzerland. It lies within the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden, between Zernez, S-chanf, Scuol, and the Fuorn Pass in the Engadin valley on the ...

(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) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

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 (, , , ) is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 110 sections with 174,726 members (2023). These include the Association of British Members of the Swiss ...

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

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

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 grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...

. 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 spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 Juventute'' is a charitable foundation in Switzerland established in 1912. It is dedicated to supporting the rights and needs of Swiss children and youth. Since 1913, the Swiss post office has issued an annual charity stamp series to su ...

, 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 is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

* Ensure the

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

identities * Conserving

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

s * Increase the relationship with

nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

They reach their objectives through: * Protection of nature at the political level (campaigns, federal popular initiatives, etc.) * Nature protection in the field (

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

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

'')

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 a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

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

Notes and references

External links