Voters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to make authorities do more to protect natural habitats from pollution and development, preliminary results of a referendum have showed.
The biodiversity initiative, which the Swiss government and parliament had already rebuffed, envisaged changing the law to set aside more land for conservation beyond areas that were already protected.
The initiative has been closely watched by conservationists outside Switzerland, at a time when concerns about global loss of biodiversity are growing. The proposal also intended to increase protections for endangered ecosystems in a country renowned for its lakes and snow-capped mountains.
In one of Switzerland’s traditional exercises of direct democracy, more than 60% of voters rejected the plan, according to a projected result published by the national broadcaster SRF. By mid-afternoon, the initiative had been rejected by too many cantons to pass, an official tally showed.
The Swiss Green party expressed disappointment at the results and said more needed to be done to protect the environment, warning that a third of all species and half of all habitats in Switzerland were under threat.
“This problem will remain regardless of the outcome of the vote,” it said in a statement.
In the view of its opponents, which included the country’s main farming lobby, the initiative was too extreme and posed risks to business development. Switzerland’s laws already took conservation needs into account, they said.
Initial support in opinion polls for the biodiversity scheme had in recent weeks given way to greater scepticism as opponents mobilised arguments against it.
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In April, Europe’s top human rights court ruled that Switzerland was not doing enough to arrest the impact of climate breakdown. The Swiss government denies this.