GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland, known for natural beauty like pristine lakes and majestic Alpine peaks, ranks among the world's richest countries whose plant and animal life is under the greatest threat. Environmentalists were seeking better protections for the country's biodiversity in a nationwide vote that culminated Sunday.
The Swiss public broadcaster SSR, citing exit polls after the end of voting at noon, reported that the plan was rejected. Final official results were expected later Sunday.
Click to Gallery
GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland, known for natural beauty like pristine lakes and majestic Alpine peaks, ranks among the world's richest countries whose plant and animal life is under the greatest threat. Environmentalists were seeking better protections for the country's biodiversity in a nationwide vote that culminated Sunday.
Trees, bushes and reeds grow along on a tributary of the Aare, in the Belper Giessen floodplain and river area in Belp, Switzerland, July 27, 2024. (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP)
A farmer walks with a horse across a flower meadow next to blossoming standard fruit trees on Friday, April 5, 2024 in Uster, Switzerland. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP)
A poster for the Yes campaign is seen in a garden ahead of a biodiversity referendum due to take place on Sept. 22, in Belp, Switzerland, Saturday, Aug. 24,2024. (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP)
A poster for the No campaign ahead of a biodiversity referendum due to take place on Sept. 22, is seen in a field in Hoechstetten, Switzerland, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, (Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
The latest polls had suggested that initial enthusiasm had waned for the proposal to boost public funding to encourage farmers and others to set aside lands and waterways to let the wild develop more, and increase the total area allocated for green spaces that must remain untouched by human development.
The contest was decided by mail-in ballots followed by a morning of in-person voting Sunday. A poll by the respected agency gfs.bern for the Swiss public broadcaster published Sept. 11 showed support falling to 46% in early September from 51% in mid-August.
Factors behind the weakening biodiversity in the country of rivers, lakes, valleys and mountains include intensified agriculture, soil alteration, a fragmentation of the landscape — such as the building of roads and housing that cut through wildlife habitats — and pollution and climate change, proponents of the measure said.
The federal government — parliament and the executive branch — opposed the plan, as did many rural voters and the country's main right-wing party, according to polls. They called it too costly, saying 600 million Swiss francs (over $700 million) is already spent on biodiversity protection each year, and fear economic development will suffer.
Passage was estimated to cost at least another 400 million francs for national and local governments, the Federal Council estimates. The initiative would also, for example, prohibit construction of new railway lines through a protected dry meadows — even if such meadow is set aside and developed elsewhere, it says.
“Passage of the biodiversity initiative would severely limit (sustainable) energy and food production, restrict the use of forests and rural areas for tourism, and make construction more expensive,” argued the campaign for a “no” vote on its web site. “YES to biodiversity, but NO to the extreme biodiversity initiative.”
Proponents, meanwhile, pointed to dwindling natural resources in Switzerland and threats to bees, frogs, birds, mosses and other wildlife. They argued that protected green spaces are “the main capital for tourism” and more of them would support local economies.
“Diversified nature guarantees air purity, drinkable water, pollination, fertility of the soil, and our food supply,” said a committee that backed the idea. “But in Switzerland, biodiversity is suffering. One-third of all our plant and animal species are threatened or have already disappeared.”
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a think tank that counts 38 mostly rich countries as members, has produced a comparative look at threats to plan and animal life. Switzerland ranks among the top four countries with the highest rates of threatened species in all eight categories of wildlife.
The voting is part of the latest Swiss referendums, which take place four times a year to give voters a direct say in policymaking in the country of around 9 million people. The only other nationwide issue up for consideration this time was a pension reform plan backed by the government.
The exit polls for SSR also showed that voters had rejected the pension reform plan.
Flowers grow in an unfertilised agricultural meadow, on Sunday, 7 July 2024, in Saanen, Switzerland. (Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
Trees, bushes and reeds grow along on a tributary of the Aare, in the Belper Giessen floodplain and river area in Belp, Switzerland, July 27, 2024. (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP)
A farmer walks with a horse across a flower meadow next to blossoming standard fruit trees on Friday, April 5, 2024 in Uster, Switzerland. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP)
A poster for the Yes campaign is seen in a garden ahead of a biodiversity referendum due to take place on Sept. 22, in Belp, Switzerland, Saturday, Aug. 24,2024. (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP)
A poster for the No campaign ahead of a biodiversity referendum due to take place on Sept. 22, is seen in a field in Hoechstetten, Switzerland, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, (Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as the sides appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions.
The rocket barrage overnight sent thousands of people scrambling into shelters. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas,” pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.
The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday killed at least 37 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leaders as well as women and children. The militant group was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM — The Israeli defense minister says the steps taken against Hezbollah will continue until residents of Israel’s north can return to their homes, saying "we will do everything necessary to achieve it.”
Yoav Gallant was on a visit to the command and control center of the Israeli Air Force when he said the Lebanese militant group “has started to sense some of the capabilities" of the Israeli army and that Hezbollah is now feeling "persecuted, and we are seeing the results.”
He also called the operations conducted by the Israeli air force “very impressive, both defensively and offensively.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israeli troops have raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The troops ordered the bureau to shut down early Sunday amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites. The broadcaster has continued operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon has urged calm in the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire on Sunday, raising fears of a regional war.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert wrote in a post on X.
Hennis-Plasschaert has earlier criticized the attack that saw thousands of devices explode in Lebanon and warned that it marks “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”
BEIRUT, Lebanon — An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, the Islamic Resistance, says it has launched drones targeting a military base in Israel.
The attack comes amid escalating fire exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, heightening fears of a broadening conflict.
The Israeli military says it intercepted multiple aerial devices approaching Israel from the direction of Iraq. It added that the targets did not cross into Israeli territory and no injuries were reported.
Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq have claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Israel multiple times since the outbreak of the war in Gaza almost a year ago.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The death toll following an Israeli strike on a southern Beirut suburb has risen to 45, Lebanon’s health ministry says, as search operations continue for the third day.
The statement also says some remains have been collected and are yet to be identified
Ali Harake, a local official and engineer at the scene says they are still looking for “around 15 bodies.” Meanwhile, the local municipality has brought in a crane in an attempt to retrieve people’s belongings from the damaged buildings.
Friday's strike killed a top Hezbollah official Ibrahim Akil among a dozen other members of the militant group. Civilians, including at least two children, were among those killed in the busy neighborhood.
Israeli firefighters work at a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo//Leo Correa)
Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
Israeli security forces work at a house hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped casket of reservist Major Nael Fwarsy, one of two soldiers killed by a Lebanese drone attack on northern Israel, during his funeral in Maghar, Israel, Friday, Sept 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)
An Israeli police officer examines the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli firefighters plane uses a fire retardant to extinguish a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an open area near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli firefighters work at a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo//Leo Correa)
Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
People look at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)
