In September 2024, Switzerland will vote on an initiative that aims to better protect biodiversity. In the run-up to the vote, supporters and opponents are using different figures to argue their case. But how do you actually measure the state of biodiversity? We put this question to Roger Bär, a scientist at CDE and the Swiss Biodiversity Forum. Read the interview.

In this project, CDE together with Dezentrum and in collaboration with Swiss companies, civil society, and institutions, is conducting an iterative experiment and developing desirable scenarios for innovative, resilient working time models.

By now, the studies and reports on soy cultivation in Brazil could probably fill a library. Environmental degradation is a popular focus. Far less discussed is how the soy sector turns local food systems upside down – and jeopardizes local access to sufficient healthy food. This raises questions of justice, as studies by CDE and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro show.

Africa is home to two-thirds of the world’s mineral reserves. Madagascar is no exception. It is an increasingly important site of cobalt, ilmenite, monazite, and nickel extraction – highly sought-after ingredients for sustainable, future-oriented infrastructure. The new CDE Policy Brief explores the reality on the ground and ways of improving.

Switzerland has the opportunity to design and implement legislation that, while being compatible with the EUDR for deforestation-free supply chains, can also help smallholders in the global South overcome problems that are likely to arise as their access to the European market narrows. This project aims to identify enabling mechanisms with African stakeholders and to facilitate advocacy for smallholders in the policy debate.