Summer drought: Rösti defends federal government's response

The Federal Council intends to allocate 73 million francs to ease the effects of the drought that hit Switzerland this summer. The package includes an additional credit of 17.5 million francs for forests, a credit that had been cut under the savings package and is now being restored to public spending. Farmers will receive 54 million francs in compensation for lost income.

Federal Councillor Albert Rösti, head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, rejected accusations that the government had been slow to react to the summer heatwave. He said the government had taken the situation seriously from the start and had the tools needed to act. A round table involving federal offices and experts is to identify any additional needs by the end of October and propose further measures.

Criticism from the Greens, cautious support from the Green Liberals

For Lisa Mazzone, president of the Greens, the announced measures are not enough. She called the aid for agriculture positive, but said the package does not address the root of the problem: measures for cities, health and the population are missing.

Jürg Grossen, president of the Green Liberals, called the proposal insufficient and the government's response too slow, but said his party would support the measures anyway. The Swiss Farmers' Union welcomed the aid for agriculture. WaldSchweiz, the association of forest owners, called the return of the forest credit an important first step, while calling for further action.

Rösti defended the scale of the funds: the Confederation already spends 115 million francs a year on forests, on top of which the additional 17.5 million francs will be added, a figure that will be doubled by cantonal contributions and will remain in place until 2031. For existing measures such as climate protection, decarbonisation, phasing out fossil fuels, biodiversity protection and adaptation to climate change, the Confederation spends around 3 billion francs.

The term "climate crisis" was not used at the press conference. Rösti explained that he had not used it because Switzerland has the measures it needs to act, and called for keeping a sense of proportion compared with what is happening in other parts of the world. He nevertheless acknowledged that in some regions the situation could already be described as a crisis.

On the situation south of the Alps, where summer drought has been a reality for years, Rösti said the Confederation was already acting, for instance with a water resource management strategy. He noted that there had been no water supply crisis this summer, while admitting he had not anticipated such a long drought. He acknowledged that much work remains to be done on adaptation. On water management for Lake Maggiore with Italy, the federal councillor confirmed ongoing contacts but declined to comment on the timing or content of a possible agreement.