Switzerland’s International Environmental Policy 2012

The Switzerland’s International Environmental Policy is a national cross-sectoral policy of Switzerland. Its main objectives include the protection, maintenance and sustainable and efficient use of natural resources with the aim of stabilizing the quality and quantity of natural resources in the long term; a fair and legally binding system for resource use that involves all stakeholders; clear, comprehensive, coherent, efficient and effective international rules with corresponding institutions to secure the effective protection of the global environment; and the protection of the public from adverse health effects due to environmental degradation.
The Policy aims to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable. To this end, it provides for protecting and making sus¬tainable use of global biodiversity and of ensuring an eco-logical balance and a fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that come from using genetic resources. The document also aims for achieving the secure han¬dling of chemicals throughout the world and wants to mini¬mize the harmful effects of hazardous substances on humans and the environment. In order to improve consistency and effi¬ciency, even better and more systematic use must be made of synergies between the instruments in the chemicals and waste regime. Also, according to the document, Switzerland is pursuing the goal of protecting and making sustainable use of forests. It plans to implement an integrated approach to water management with the aim of protecting and improving water quality. Within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Swiss bilateral trade policy (free trade, investments), Swit¬zerland is pursuing the goal of achieving a balance between environment and trade regulations. In the interests of free trade, it is committed to harmonizing appropriate environmen¬tal standards in the environmental agreements. The initiatives for an ecological economic system launched under the aus¬pices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Devel¬opment (OECD) should lead in the long term to an interna¬tional regime for the efficient and fair management of natural resources. Switzerland is also committed to ensuring that the required funding is made available to implement international environmental policies. The polluter pays principle and capacity to pay are the starting points for working out how the burden is to be shared. Switzerland will ensure that multilateral and bilateral development co-operation supports environmental policy goals.
In order to increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the Policy aims to pursuing the goal of stabilizing the global cli¬mate, to minimize any risk to the environment, human health and economic and social prosperity. To this end, Switzerland is calling for reduction targets for all industrialized countries, and also for emerging economies that produce substantial emissions, in accordance with their capacities.