The preservation of natural resources is one of the priorities of Swiss foreign policy (Art. 54 of the Federal Constitution).

Environmental protection – one of the three mainstays of sustainable development – is also a precondition for global conflict prevention, stability and security.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) collaborates closely with the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC, principally the Swiss Agency for the Environment), the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) and other federal administrative agencies. This cooperation makes it possible to obtain an overview of Swiss environmental policy and promotes coherence in foreign policy.

The FDFA is particularly committed in three fields:

• the development of legal instruments
• the creation of an efficient institutional framework
• technical and financial assistance with environmental problems abroad.

The development of legal instruments Early in the 1970s the international community acknowledged that the objectives of environment protection and the sustainable use of resources could only be achieved through international cooperation. This new awareness found expression in the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio, and its follow-up conference in Johannesburg in 2002.
A number of international treaties were subsequently concluded in the following fields:

• climate change
• controlling the emission of greenhouse gases
• biodiversity and desertification
• water, chemicals and waste
• protecting the most important economically useful plants in agriculture.

Switzerland has endorsed these agreements.

The creation of an efficient institutional framework The quest for sustainable development has led to a constant increase in regulations and institutions focusing on environmental matters. The current international environmental regime is characterized by a plethora of processes and institutions. One of the principal United Nations bodies responsible for environment protection is the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The existence of so many bodies, conventions and protocols, all with different management structures and responsibilities, has led the FDFA to treat making the system more coherent as an overriding concern.
The FDFA is also in favour of strengthening synergies among the many international environmental bodies that are based in Geneva, and it promotes the interests of the city as a base for international organizations.

Technical and financial assistance with environmental problems abroad The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), an FDFA body, is committed to the sustainable use of natural resources and to strengthening the environmental regime in developing countries. It funds programmes for:

• sustainable agriculture
• the global preservation of agricultural biodiversity
• integrated water-resource management
• sustainable forestry and soil management
• alternative energy concepts
• adaptation to climate change and emergency assistance in the event of natural disasters.