“Protecting the climate at the expense of biodiversity is counter-productive”

When you were a child, what did you want to be?

Even when I was very young, my dream job was to be a wildlife camerawoman, but I never thought my dream would come true. Whatever happened, I knew I wanted to be involved with animals and natural history. From a very early age, I was concerned about how poorly mankind treats the environment.

Why did you decide to study at ETH?

I decided to study biology because I thought it would be most useful in edging ever closer to my dream job. I lived with my parents in Zurich so ETH was on our doorstep. At ETH, I also had the opportunity to complete the course in four years, which was important to me because I wanted to get onto the career ladder and put my skills to practical use as quickly as possible.

In 2003, you moved from WSL, Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research) to Schweizer Fernsehen or put differently from scientific work to journalism. Why did you do this?

I loved my time at WSL. It is a wonderful place to work, and I had lots of interesting and friendly colleagues. I was able to get involved in exciting projects: everything from monitoring bark beetles and long-term forest ecosystem research - I travelled extensively in Switzerland and took photos of the tree canopies of forests for what is known as the “Leaf Area Index” – to the international MONARPOP program, which collects persistent and other organic pollutants (POPs) in the Alps. But I had doubts as to whether a scientific career with a PhD and specialising in one single field was right for me. After two years working as a scientist at WSL, I decided to try my luck at my dream job. I put in a speculative application to the editorial team at Netz Natur. Initially, I worked for a few days on a trial basis then I was able to complete a placement. After just two months, I was very fortunate to be offered a permanent position.

At “Plan Biodivers”, you call yourselves “Asphaltknackerinnen” or “asphalt removers”. Can you tell us a little about how the agency came about and what your work involves?

“Asphaltknackerinnen” is the name of one of our projects. The rest of our work is carried out on a mandate basis for various clients. We call ourselves Asphaltknackerinnen because we want to remove as many paved surfaces as possible and green them up to benefit biodiversity. I founded the company “Plan Biodivers” with my colleague Bettina Walch from SRF. From 2018 onwards, we worked together to launch and manage the Mission B project at SRF. Under the motto “every square metre counts”, we invited people to increase biodiversity on their balconies and in their gardens and to thereby boost the stock of insects which had fallen dramatically over the past few decades. Once this mission came to an end after 18 months as scheduled, and SRF stopped producing the Netz Natur programme after Andreas Moser retired, we said to ourselves: well, let’s just continue ourselves with what we consider to be important. During our long careers at SRF, we had been able to build up a great network and so work just came in without us having to do much.

One of our jobs is to provide communications on biodiversity and climate for the Landscape and Water department of the canton of Aargau. We have revised the climate strategy of Liechtenstein and are also involved in producing a biodiversity strategy for them. At the moment, I am working on a documentary for SRF about bees and Bettina frequently moderates conferences and podium discussions. Sabrina Stettler joined us about a year ago. She is an environmental engineer with experience in land use planning and is a talented illustrator.

What plans do you have for the future? Who do you collaborate with?

Right now, we're just letting things happen. We are involved in so many exciting topics and jobs that we do not really want to limit ourselves to one single field. We want the “Asphaltknackerinnen” project to grow and move beyond Zurich. Biodiversity is always also concerned with quality of life. We want to motivate people to get active in this area too. We are also working on a non-native species project and one on agriculture and nutrition. We collaborate with a huge number of different large and small players and provide support for any work promoting biodiversity. For example, in the debate surrounding the promotion of renewable energies at the expense of biodiversity, we have produced videos for WWF on protecting biotopes of national importance and for the Swiss Fisheries Association we produced a fact sheet on residual water.
Science shows that we will only overcome future challenges if we don’t ignore climate protection, climate change adaptation and, most important, biodiversity. The world cannot be resilient without intact diversity of species. Protecting the climate at the expense of biodiversity is counter-productive because biodiversity is the basis for our existence and is our greatest ally in adapting to the consequences of climate change.

What motivates you at a personal level in your work for “Plan Biodivers”?

Not only are the topics we cover exciting, but my work is also meaningful. I work with a lot of good and interesting people who are as passionate about the natural world and preserving the basis for our existence, as I am. We share a joy in producing wonderful and empowering results and being able to demonstrate that there is always a solution in harmony with nature and that this is usually the most economical approach. I also love working in our little team. And I have the freedom to decide myself which of the relevant topics I want to work on.

To enhance biodiversity in Switzerland: external page Plan Biodivers

Project "Asphaltknackerinnen": external page https://planbiodivers.ch/asphaltknackerinnen/