First Steps Taken to Protect the Rights of Nature in Switzerland’s Federal Constitution-4/6/2021

Swiss National councillors seek to give environment claim

In our latest update and press release on the work being done in Switzerland’s Parliament, we shared with the public that on March 19th, 2021, five members of Switzerland’s Parliament formally presented an initiative to recognize the human right to a healthy environment and the rights of the environment itself – the rights of nature – in the Switzerland Federal Constitution (Die Bundesverfassung).

These five Parliamentary members – Anna Giacometti, NR FDP (National Councilor, Liberal Democratic Party), Jon Pult, NR SP (National Councilor, Social Party), Nik Gugger, NR EVP (National Councilor, Evangelical Party), Beat Flach, NR GLP (National Party, Green liberal Party), and Marionna Schlatter, NR Grüne (National Party, Green Party) – submitted the initiative to the federal government. This group of political representatives was led by much of the work of one woman: Doris Ragettli of Rights of Mother Earth. Doris was recently featured in Tages Anzeiger (in German) for their latest piece on seeking the rights and protections of rivers, as well as the overall actions of the Mother-Earth/Rights of Nature movement.

This fascinating character piece highlights the work of our partners, and PDFs of the article can be found below.