Swiss Review 2/2021

Swiss Review / April 2021 / No.2 3 Some are big, take Lake Geneva for example. Others are tiny, nameless pools in the highAlps. All told, Swit- zerland has over 6,000different lakes. In addition, our country boasts 65,000 kilometres’ worth of rivers and streams. Thesewaterways are our physical link to the sea –much of the water that trickles or cascades from our mountainsides eventually ends up in the North Sea, theMediterranean, the Adriatic, or even the Black Sea. It all has to flow somewhere. This aquaticwealth influences our national psyche. Switzerland likes to call itself the “reservoir of Europe”. And our drinking water is, it goes without saying, perfectly clean. Or is it? Recent indications give cause for concern. Levels of chlorothalonil in drinking water are over the permitted thresh- old in many parts of the country. Switzerland’s greatest natural resource is less pure thanwe thought. Chlorothalonil is a fungicide suspected of having a carcinogenic andmutagenic effect. It was banned in Switzerland at the end of 2019. Manywater companies nowdilute the contaminatedwaterwith clean water. Diluting water to make it drinkable? Not the most palatable thought. Swiss farmers who used chlorothalonil (legally) to protect their crops be- fore 2020 feel like they are being unjustly criticised. Indeed, it would bewrong to view their role in isolation. Ultimately, “more efficient” farming and its as- sociated fallout owe much to the loss of arable land due to urban encroach- ment as well as our insatiable consumer appetite for cheap food. What type of agriculture does Switzerlandwant? This is also a question dominating the contentious debate on two initiatives that will be put to the Swiss electorate on 13 June (see page 6). Incidentally, hydrologists have given us another reason to be concerned about the future of Swiss water. Froma climate change perspective, they say that Switzerland is set to become both wetter and drier. Our winters will be rainier. Snow will melt earlier, glaciers quicker. Consequently, more water will flowdown into our valleys over a shorter time instead of being naturally retained at higher altitudes. On the other hand, summer precipitation will decline.Water shortages will becomemore common, particularly in regions of intensive farming. Droughts will become more frequent too. Meanwhile, water temperatures will continue to rise, endangering fish populations as a result. Lac des Brenets in the canton of Neuchâtel dried out completely in late summer 2018 – possibly a harbinger of Swiss summers to come. MARC LETTAU, EDI TOR- IN-CHIEF Editorial 5 Mailbag 6 Focus Tainted water – disquiet over Switzerland’s “blue gold” 11 Switzerland in figures The Matterhorn is growing ... and shrinking 12 Images Annemarie Schwarzenbach and her photographic work 14 Report Organic farmers of Grisons are one step ahead News from your region 17 Literature Luisa Famos wrote poignantly about the Amerindians – in Romansh 18 Interview On the psychoanalyst’s couch – the Swiss response to Covid-19 21 Society Fundamental rights for primates in Basel? 23 Politics Fresh attempt at e-voting 25 SwissCommunity news 27 Notes from the Parliament Building Interviewwith Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis 31 News Contents Disquiet in the reservoir of Europe Cover photo: iStock “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad..