Summary
In 2021, Switzerland national councilors Jon Pult, Anna Giacometti, Marionna Schlatter-Schmid, Nik Gugger, and Beat Flach—all from various parties—presented an initiative for a constitutional amendment to the Swiss parliament. The proposed amendment would have given people the right to a healthy environment and at least the partial status of a legal subject to nature. The proposal mentioned the scarcity of resources, increasing environmental pollution and global warming. The initiative also said that it will be necessary sometimes to clarify who is legally entitled to represent nature when working out the details.
In May 2022, the Commission for Legal Affairs of the Swiss National Council recommended that that Swiss Parliament vote against adopting the amendment with 14 votes against and 11 votes for the initiative. In December 2022, Parliament followed the opinion of the Commission of Legal Affairs and did not endorse the initiative with 101 votes against, 87 votes for, and 1 abstention.
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/initiative-for-the-rights-of-nature-to-the-swiss-parliament/.
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