Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Work is in full swing to clear up the landslide damage in the mountain village of Schwanden (see photo above) in central Switzerland. Two landslides (roughly 30,000 cubic metres of debris) hit the village on August 29, 2023, and other smaller flows have occurred since then. Many buildings were damaged and 100 residents were evacuated.
Since the beginning of this week, 20 civil defence volunteers have been helping clear the houses of mud and other debris. Meanwhile, the mountain above the village is being constantly monitored.
Read on for more news and stories from Switzerland today.
In the news: Cassis on two-state solution, reducing deficit, unauthorised leaks, Bulgaria and Romania and strong Swiss franc.
- Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (photo above) on Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council ‘not to give in to frustrations’ in the Middle East. In New York, the Swiss diplomat reiterated the need for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine question.
- Expecting a financial deficit of more than CHF2.5 billion, the Swiss government has announced plans on how to reduce asylum costs in the 2025 budget.
- The Swiss government has rejected parliamentary criticism that it has not done enough to control unauthorised leaks, following numerous leaks to the press during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Passport checks for people flying to and from Bulgaria and Romania will be abolished at Swiss airports. The Swiss government on Wednesday agreed to follow a recent European Union decision to lift internal border controls at air and maritime borders with Bulgaria and Romania.
- A stronger franc has helped dampen inflation in Switzerland but has also been painful for domestic companies, according to Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan.
- Switzerland’s banking regulator FINMA has named Stefan Walter, a senior official with the European Central Bank (ECB), as its new chief executive.
Life expectancy starts to plateau in Switzerland
Life expectancy is a key talking point in Switzerland as the March 3 pension votes approach. How long can people expect to draw a pension in the future?
An interviewExternal link by Swiss public radio SRF with Johanna Probst, a demography specialist at the Federal Statistical Office, sheds light on the question.
In the Alpine country, average life expectancy has risen dramatically over the past few decades. A girl born in 1950 had a life expectancy of 71.1 years. By 2022 this had risen to 85.5 years. Boys could expect to live 66.6 years in 1950 but in 2022 the figure was 81.5 years.
But these numbers are unlikely to continue to rise quickly and significantly in the near future.
“Today a kind of plateau is emerging. However, there is still an increase every year – but a slightly less dramatic increase than in the past,” said Probst.
The reasons? Infant mortality, which used to have a great impact, has been greatly reduced. Medical progress has been so great over recent decades that there are fewer major health gains to be made among younger people. In older groups, however, medical advances are still possible, especially in the area of cardiovascular diseases and healthier lifestyles, said the expert.
Yet the Covid-19pandemic has shown us that there can still be significant numbers of deaths from infectious diseases today, warned Probst. “The expectation is not that this will repeat itself over and over again. But this possibility exists,” she said.
In particular, developments surrounding possible climate-related deaths remain highly uncertain. “We already see excess mortality or increased mortality in summers with strong heatwaves,” said Probst.
The return of the salmon – a flop
The Atlantic salmon used to migrate from the North Sea to Switzerland to reproduce in streams and rivers. But owing to the construction of hydroelectric power plants, salmon became extinct in the Alpine country.
Every year, young salmon are now released into various tributaries of the Rhine and Aare rivers in the hope that these fish will find their way into the sea and back to Switzerland as adults.
The results of a new salmon studyExternal link are contrasting. Researchers found that every year young salmon manage to swim down the River Rhine towards the sea, despite obstacles and dangers from power plants.
Every year, around 1,000 to 2,000 salmon used to migrate up the Rhine to the tributaries to spawn, fish ecologist Jörg Schneider from Frankfurt am Main toldExternal link Swiss public radio SRF. “But after 2015, this population collapsed again, by up to 80%.”
There are many possiblereasons, say fish experts. These include fish-eating birds such as goosanders and cormorants, whose populations have grown. Also, fewer salmon are returning from the sea. “This is a big topic among salmon specialists,” says Schneider. But it is unclear what is happening. Is the sea warming? Are the current conditions or the food source for the salmon changing?
Of the few fish that swim back up the Rhine as adults, many die due to ships‘ propellers. Finally, there are catfish, which live near the river power plants and grow up to three meters in length; they also like eating salmon.
Experts are not giving up. “We now have to research the individual points better and then move on,” says Schneider. Fish specialist Armin Peter adds: “Where the salmon get through, the rivers become passable again for many other migratory fish… giving up is therefore not an option.”
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