Aqua Viva
Aqua Viva is a Swiss non-profit environmental organization with a focus on water protection based in Schaffhausen . It was created in 2012 from the merger of the two traditional water protection organizations Rheinaubund and AQUA VIVA. The Rheinaubund emerged from the movement for the conservation of the river landscapes on the Upper Rhine and the Spöl in the National Park . The "fight" against the Rheinau power plant led to its founding in 1960. The Rheinaubund has contributed to anchoring nature and homeland protection in the federal constitution . AQUA VIVA was created in 1970 as a reaction to the planning of a Trans-Helvetic Canal ; a navigable waterway for barges from Basel over the High Rhine, the Aare and the Jura lakes to Lake Geneva. Aqua Viva is nationally authorized to lodge a complaint with associations .
aims
The association advocates the protection and restoration of near-natural bodies of water and water landscapes, in particular for the ecological requirements of rivers . The organization sees itself as an advocate for the implementation of the Waters Protection Act, the Auenverordnung and related decrees. With training and public relations work, she wants to promote understanding of ecological relationships, in particular for water protection that takes into account the demands of man and nature on an equal footing.
activities
According to its own information, the organization advises authorities and designers. It is involved in environmental education with the aim of sensitizing students and teachers to living waters. With the magazine aqua viva (formerly natur und Mensch ) and media work, Aqua Viva informs its collective and individual members as well as the public about issues relating to water protection.
History of the Rhine Union
The association, founded in 1960, is one of the pioneering organizations of the environmental movement in Switzerland. Its creation is closely linked to the disputes surrounding the construction of the river power station near Rheinau. When the construction of this power plant was to begin in 1951, resistance arose. The engagement of politicians led to the formation of an actual popular movement. The "non-partisan committee for the protection of the Rheinau- Rheinfall river landscape " carried the battle into parliaments, launched two federal constitutional initiatives and organized large-scale demonstrations. For the first time, nature conservation became a highly political, nationwide issue. After the Rheinau Initiative in 1954 and the Water Rights Initiative in 1956 were rejected, the Rheinau Committee in 1957/58 campaigned for the undiminished preservation of the Swiss National Park. As a result of the recent failure, a group around Arthur Uehlinger, to whom the attitude of the Swiss Confederation for nature conservation in the fight against hydropower plants seemed too willing to compromise, founded the Rhine union in 1960.
In 1962, a majority of the Swiss supported the nature and homeland protection article in the constitution. In 1966 the federal law on nature and homeland protection followed. The Rheinaubund was a driving force both times. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Rheinaubund successfully fought against making the High Rhine navigable as far as Lake Constance. Later he supported, among other things, the opposition to the power plant project in the Greina plateau and the expansion of the Grimsel power plants. The water protection organization also successfully advocated ecological hydraulic engineering on the Thur .
On September 8, 2012 the association merged with AQUA VIVA. Today, the water protection organization Aqua Viva is committed to the protection and restoration of near-natural water bodies and water landscapes and has the right to lodge a complaint. The most important mouthpiece of the Rheinaunbund was and is its regularly published magazine aqua viva (formerly natur und Mensch ). This magazine, which has existed since 1958, established itself in the 1960s and beyond as an actual forum paper for nature conservation and served various regional nature conservation groups as a national publication platform. Since 2006, schoolchildren and teachers have been given knowledge about rivers on excursions and on “water adventure days”.
history
After the Second World War, the idea of the Trans-Helvetic Canal reappeared. In response, numerous active organizations emerged from landscape and environmental conservationists. The umbrella organization “National Action Group for the Conservation of Rivers and Lakes AQUA VIVA”, supported by 38 organizations, was founded on March 11, 1970 to coordinate activities and strengthen concerns. The motion submitted in 1970 to keep important stretches of the Rhine, Aare, Rhone and Ticino free for cargo shipping was followed by a dispute in which AQUA VIVA was significantly involved. As a result, only the Rhine route from Basel to the mouth of the Aare at Klingnau remained in the free keeping law. After the Transhelvetic Canal project, there were many other areas of activity for the association. The association also claims to be at the forefront of the water protection initiative “Save our waters”, the Aare protection initiative and the “Living water” initiative.
literature
- AQUA VIVA - Swiss Action Society for the Protection of Rivers and Lakes. 40 years of AQUA VIVA . Anniversary issue 2010 (PDF; 4.6 MB).
- Kurt Bächtold: Arthur Uehlinger . In: Schaffhauser Contributions to History. Biographies Volume V . 68th year 1991, pp. 190–197 ( PDF; 329 kB )
- Lukas Denzler: 50 Years of the Rheinaubund (PDF; 1.7 MB). In: TEC 21, 44/2010, p. 12
- Christoph Graf: The Rheinau power plant and the Rheinau initiative 1953. A model case of some constitutional and international law as well as current constitutional and cultural-political issues in Switzerland in the light of official sources . Inaugural dissertation at the University of Bern. Zurich 1972
- Rheinaubund: anniversary issue . In: 'natur und Mensch', 2/2010 [2] (PDF; 11.9 MB).
- Ruedi Schneider: The Rheinau fight . In: Naturforschende Gesellschaft Schaffhausen (ed.). 50 years of landscape change and nature conservation in the Schaffhausen region. New Year's Gazette 50/1998.