Ecopop

Ecopop ( ECOlogy and population , „Ecology and Population“) is a Swiss voluntary association Established in 1971 dedicated to the preservation of non-renewable resources and the reduction of overpopulation . Ecopop is a member of the European Population Alliance (founded 2012). ^[1]

Founded under the mathematical trend of exponential growth of world population and the finiteness of natural resources, and inspired by the Club of Rome , the association is formed as part of the nascent ecology movement as Arbeitsgruppe Bevölkerungsentwicklung („working group for population development“). It was renamed to its current name in 1987. It was active throughout the 1970s to 2000s in organizing conferences and podiums on population growth.

Popular initiative

In 2011, the general assembly decided to launch a popular initiative with the aim of reducing population growth in Switzerland. It was submitted to the voters on November 30, 2014, who rejected it (74.1% NO votes). ^[2]

The initiative proposes to insert two articles into the Swiss Constitution

1. population growth of 0.2% of total population per year
2. at least 10% of Swiss Federal development aid is to be Invested in programs to promote voluntary family planning .

Throughout the 40 years of its existence the association has been ostensibly been part of the ecology movement, proposing degrowth out of Malthusian concerns mostly aimed at an academic or intellectual public, and during the 1970s it explicitly denounced populist or xenophobic motivation for immigration control advocates by James Schwarzenbach .

Nevertheless, in the political climate of the immigration debate in Switzerland, especially due to the proximity of Ecopop’s initiative to the immigration referendum of February 2014 , which resulted in widespread political fears and economic elite of deteriorating relations with the European Union, criticized tended to accuse Ecopop or its supporters of (variously) xenophobic, racist, fascist, selfish or hypocritical motives. ^[3] [4] These attacks were mostly based on the growth of the population as a whole, and the growth rate of the population as a whole. far as equating it withchild euthanasia in Nazi Germany . ^[5] Recommendations by the parties and organizations Were Predominantly negative, Even Green Party of Switzerland , ^[6] the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland and Greenpeace Switzerland Took a negative stance, as Did the notoriously immigration-critical Swiss People’s Party (on the national level with several cantonal sections in support). ^[7] While leftist opposition to Ecopop is mainly expressed as a criticism of xenophobia, centrist and right-of-center parties oppose it because of its economic repercussions, as a cap on immigrant workersin Switzerland would be the economy of flexible recruitment of specialists and deteriorate Switzerland-European Union relations . ^[8]

See also

• Environmental movement in Switzerland
• Immigration to Switzerland
• List of organizations campaigning for population stabilization
• List of population concern organizations
• malthusianism

References