Prized Alpine area being “built to death”

swissinfo.ch

Swiss environmental groups have sounded alarm bells over what they say is a severe threat to the Engadine valley posed by over-construction.

The groups have called on the government to take action to halt the proliferation of holiday homes, which they say are destroying an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The Swiss Foundation for Landscape Protection and the Swiss Heritage Society said the Upper Engadine, which includes the resort of St Moritz, was being “built to death”.

“Every year, an average of 400 holiday homes are being built, which stand empty 11 months of the year,” the foundation director, Raimund Rodewald, told swissinfo.

“And in a few more years, this landscape – one of the most amazing in the whole Alpine region – will be destroyed completely.”

The groups said the number of beds in the Upper Engadine, canton Graubünden, had tripled between 1970 and 2002, from 19,484 to 65,672.

The groups said traffic, noise and tourism infrastructure were also on the rise, threatening to destroy the region’s lifeline – the tourism industry itself.

Direct interference

Rodewald said the government should reject the latest development plans put forward by canton Graubünden, which have to go through cabinet for final approval.

“The situation is so serious that we now want the cabinet to interfere, because only it has the power to stop building projects that have already been approved by local and cantonal authorities,” Rodewald explained.

He added that the Upper Engadine was caught in a tug-of-war between those who wanted to exploit the region’s full tourism potential and those who wanted to maintain the area’s natural beauty.

“The problem is so bad in the Upper Engadine in particular because it’s a prime tourist site, where land is especially valuable and lucrative.”

Local action

The groups also calls on local communities to take matters into their own hands by coming up with action plans to protect certain areas.

Local groups raised SFr12.6 million in a fundraising exercise during the 1970s in a bid to safeguard 59 hectares in the Upper Engadine from development.

The time had come to repeat such a campaign, the groups said.

An organisation, called Terrafina Oberengadin, is also due to be set up in the autumn which will work to safeguard the region’s landscape.

swissinfo

Key facts

Environmental groups say 400 holiday homes are being built in the Upper Engadine every year.
The number of beds in the area trippled between 1970 to 2002, from 19,484 to 65,672.
An organisation will be set up in the autumn with the aim of safeguarding the region’s landscape.