Análisis DOFA

The Swiss Confederation tackles both climate change causes (mitigation) and consequences (adapta-tion) (FOEN 2010). Previous legislation dealing with the subject of climate change (the October 8, 1999, CO2 Act)⁷⁷ only partially addressed the latter, and basically only in terms of financing adapta-tion measures in developing countries and risks prevenadapta-tion. On December 23, 2011, the revised law

77 RS 641.71 'Bundesgesetz über die Reduktion der CO2-Emissionen (CO2-Gesetz)’.

was accepted by the Federal Parliament, and the legal bases for the Swiss climate policy for 2013-2020 were then adopted. In this new version, adaptation obtains a more important status. In particu-lar, Article 8⁷⁸ specifically addresses the subject by asking the Confederation to coordinate a coherent national adaptation strategy.

Already in 2009, the Confederation asked the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy, and Communications (DETEC), in collaboration with the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA), the Federal Department of Finances (FDF), the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) and the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection, and Sport (DDPS) to analyze risks linked to climate change and to elaborate a general adaptation strategy. The final goal of the strategy was to take advantage of the opportunities created by climate change (such as greater attractiveness of higher regions in hot summers), to minimize risks, to protect people and livelihood, and to in-crease the adaptive capacity of the system. The high impacts of climate change on tourism were rec-ognized, tourism being one of the nine sectors addressed, together with agriculture, health, water management, natural hazards, forestry, energy production, biodiversity management, and soil use (DETEC/FOEN 2010). The strategy was submitted to the Federal Council for approval in 2011. On March 02, 2012, the Federal Council finally adopted its first part, in which goals are formulated, chal-lenges assessed, and measures defined (FOEN 2012). The second part, in which an action plan will be defined, will be presented by the end of 2013. This adaptation strategy should help the different departments concerned to elaborate coordinated adaptation to climate change.

Until now, the punctual and uncoordinated approach to climate change risked creating overlaps, not taking advantage of potential synergies, badly defining priorities, and therefore using the available resources in an inefficient way (DETEC 2008). Generally, the elaboration of strategies and of legisla-tion on adaptalegisla-tion was sector- and problem-specific and often implicitly included in already existing legislation, particularly on forest and river protection.⁷⁹ Instruments implemented in the past con-sisted mostly of both technical regulation and economic mechanisms. The existing legislation mainly relates to the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme events (e.g. heat waves and storms) and natural hazards (e.g. floods and slope instability) and to the progressive changes of other factors such as average temperature and rainfall. Jurisdiction concerning adaptation to natural hazards and appli-cation of measures is generally under the purview of the different cantons and municipalities. Partic-ularly considered are floods protection and protective forests. Adaptation to other extreme events (forest fires, avalanches, hailstorms, winter- and wind-storms) is more difficult to quantify since the existing measures are already effective. Concerning natural hazards, in the recent years, the tenden-cy has been to pass from remediation to the reduction of their effects. Therefore more and more importance is given to the evaluation of the risks, risk mapping, monitoring, the development of technical measures, early warning systems, and the limitation of residual risks. The new adaptation strategy mentioned above includes both the adjustment and reinforcement of these mechanisms to

78 Art. 8 ‘Koordination der Anpassungsmassnahmen 1) Der Bund koordiniert die Massnahmen zur Vermeidung und Bewältigung von Schäden an Personen und Sachen von erheblichem Wert, die sich als Folge der erhöhten Treibhausgaskonzentration in der Atmosphäre ergeben können. 2) Er sorgt für die Erarbeitung und Beschaffung von Grundlagen, die für die Ergreifung dieser Massnahmen notwendig sind.‘ (RS 641.71 'Bundesgesetz über die Reduktion der CO2-Emissionen (CO2-Gesetz)’).

79 RS 921.0 'Loi fédérale du 4 octobre 1991 sur les forêts (Loi sur les forêts, LFo), état juin 2006' and RS 721.100 'Loi fédérale du 21 juin 1991 sur l'aménagement des cours d'eau, état juin 2006'.

the new frequency and intensity of already existing events (floods, avalanches) and their extension to 'new' events (heat waves, drought, permafrost melting). Concerning adaptation to other factors, such as the increase in average temperature or changes in rainfall, instruments rely generally on sec-tor-specific approaches.

Existing legislation related to adaptation for tourism principally deals with economic promotion and regional development. Its application mainly consists of supporting policies carried out at federal, cantonal, and communal level. These policies mostly refer to financial aid for investment projects taking the form of, for example, subsidies, interest-free loans, loan guarantees, tax relief, or debt forgiveness (Gonseth 2008). Different entities manage the Swiss tourism policy (Figure 5.1). The Fed-eral Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA), and more specifically its State Secretariat for Economic Affairs - Tourism (SECO/Tourism), is in charge of the execution of tourism federal policy elaborated by the Federal Council and the Federal Parliament (Swiss Federal Council 2010). The Federal Council also approved the strategy on adaptation to climate change, which will be implemented by a multi-tude of actors at the national and cantonal level and which was elaborated from the Climate Policy Section of the FOEN. The Confederation delegates important tasks of tourism policy to two organiza-tions: Switzerland Tourism and the Swiss Society for Hotel Credit (SGH), respectively a corporation and a cooperative of public rights. The first is in charge of the promotion of Swiss tourism (destina-tion marketing), the second of helping the accommoda(destina-tion sector (financing accommoda(destina-tion invest-ments). The Swiss Tourism Federation is the umbrella organization that groups and defends the in-terests of the different tourism suppliers and sectorial associations such as Hotelleriesuisse – the Swiss Hotels Association and cablecars of Switzerland (RMS). It also works closely with the SECO. A parliamentary group⁸⁰ operates for tourism and transports interests. Finally, cantonal and municipal policies are coordinated with decisions taken by the Federal Council.

80 The Parliamentary Group for Tourism and Transport is composed of 80 members, which makes it the largest interest group in the Federal Assembly. http://www.swisstourfed.ch. Last accessed 27.09.2012.

Figure 5.1: Units in charge of the Swiss tourism and climate change policy. Adapted from Swiss Federal Council (2010). FDEA: Federal Department of Economic Affairs, GS: GastroSuisse, HS: Hotelleriesuisse - Swiss Hotels Association, FOEN: Federal Office of the Environment, RMS: Cablecars Switzerland, SECO/Tourism: State Secre-tariat for Economic Affairs - Tourism division, SGH: Swiss Society for Hotel Credit.

On June 18, 2010, the Federal Council included climate change as one of the 5 major challenges for Swiss Tourism in the growth strategy of the sector (Swiss Federal Council 2010),⁸¹ seing it both as a contributor and a victim. It called, therefore, for both mitigation and adaptation. This legislation was taken into consideration during the elaboration of the new Swiss adaptation strategy. As a conse-quence, the SECO commissioned the Research Institute for Leisure and Tourism (FIF) of the Universi-ty of Bern to write a report presenting the consequences of climate change on the Swiss tourism sector and the possible options (Lehmann Friedli and Müller 2011). The report was also to identify priorities in the context of the 2012-2015 implementation program of the Swiss tourism growth strategy. Moreover, in 2007, the SECO organized, together with UNWTO, UNEP, the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the WMO the second international conference on climate change and tourism, in which the ‘Davos Declaration’ (UNWTO et al. 2007) was adopted (Lehmann Friedli and Müller 2011).

This calls for urgent actions by governments and other actors in sustainable tourism to address the challenges brought by climate change.

In general, the Confederation, the cantons, and the municipalities try to avoid the implementation of what is called 'maladaptation': adaptation measures which contribute to enhancing climate change

81 Together with increasing globalization, evolution of demand patterns, technologic progress, and structural deficit.

(DETEC 2007). These are for example snowmaking⁸² and energy-intensive climate control of buildings.

It also privileges 'no-regret' adaptation measures, ‘adaptation options (or measures) that would be justified under all plausible future scenarios, including the absence of man-made climate change’

(Eales et al. 2006).