Chipping away at Switzerland’s forests

Swiss forests are growing but that growth is uneven. They are thinning and even retreating on the Central Plateau region. Lucie Wuethrich challenges the wisdom of Switzerland’s approach to meet its carbon zero target by, in part, increasing its reliance on burning wood. “2021 is a make-or-break year to confront the global climate emergency,” according to UN Secretary General, António Guterres. His words come on the heels of a recently released report by 17 top scientists warning of a “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals”. The biomass industry insists it is environmentally friendly and clean. 'Wood' that it were so simple. It remains to be seen whether the world will take heed. We are fascinated by fictional apocalypse but seem unable or unwilling to accept the real one facing us. More emissions have been spewed into the atmosphere in the 20 years since the Kyoto Protocol than in the 20 years preceding it, not one of the...