Environment

While plants are coming into leaf ever earlier due to climate change, the time at which roe deer give birth is changing more slowly. This means that the food supply available when deer are rearing their young is altering. Roe deer populations at lower altitudes are particularly affected, according to the findings of a study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).

In a study for the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment EPFL’s International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) has brought together a group of global experts to point the way forward for international policymakers grappling with the risks and benefits posed by Carbon Dioxide Removal and Solar Radiation Modification.

In 2019, floods, landslides, debris flows, rockfall and rockslides caused some CHF 85 million of damage in Switzerland, making it a relatively low-damage year. The cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Neuchâtel were the hardest hit. The damage primarily resulted from flooding, overland flow and debris flows, mostly triggered by thunderstorms. Rockfalls and a debris flow each claimed two lives, while a fifth person was killed by a flood. These were the conclusions of the annual analysis of the Swiss flood and landslide damage database kept by the Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).

The Canton of Grisons and the Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) are establishing a new research centre employing up to 40 people in Davos. From January 2021, the centre will examine social and economic issues connected with climate change, extreme events and natural hazards in mountainous regions. ETH Zurich will also be involved, through two professorships.