Agroecology: Friends of the Earth Switzerland/ Pro Natura
01 January, 2001
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01 January, 2001
Switzerland’s current intensive agricultural model is unsustainable socially, economically and environmentally.
Friends of the Earth Switzerland/ Pro Natura supports multifunctional agriculture which produces food but also protects biodiversity. To support this vision Pro Natura works with farmers to re-use dry (and biodiversity-rich) abandoned pastures in the Alps; to demonstrate alternatives to land abandonment and show the role of traditional farming inmaintaining biodiversity. More than 2,400 hectares of dry grasslands have disappeared from the Alps in the last century as they have not been in use. Pro Natura works to preserve and promote the use of the uplands for farming. Several grazing projects have been initiated in four regions of Graubünden and Valais and more than 100 hectares have already been upgraded. The projects are implemented in collaboration with local farmers and local authorities. These grazing projects also promote biodiversity with 77 species of butterflies and 22 species of grasshoppers identified in the Chalais project area. This includes nationally endangered species Pro Natura also works with MPs who have their own farms to encourage them to engage in more environmental farming practices so that they can then share their experience in their respective political networks. Pro Natura is campaigning to save traditional biodiversity-rich meadows (“Flower Power”) and for a reduction in the use of pesticides. Pro Natura has also been campaigning for many years against GMOs and achieved a nationwide referendum which resulted in a moratorium on GMOs at a national level. It works to raise awareness and mobilise the public by exposing the negative impacts of the current unsustainable agriculture model and promote socially, environmentally and economically sustainable model of agriculture which preserves nature and conserve biodiversity. Read More about Agriculture in Friends of the Earth Switzerland/Pro Natura See PDF - Friends of the Earth Switzerland/Pro Natura - Agriculture (German) See PDF - Friends of the Earth Switzerland/Pro Natura - Agriculture (French) See PDF - Friends of the Earth Switzerland/Pro Natura - Agriculture (Introduction in English)
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