Federal Office for the Environment

Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

Headquarters	Ittigen
Headmistress	Christine Hofmann (ad interim) Katrin Schneeberger (from September 2020)
At sight	Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication DETEC
Website	bafu.admin.ch

Building at Papiermühlestrasse 172

Building at Worblentalstrasse 68

The Federal Office for the Environment ( FOEN , French Office fédéral de l'environnement OFEV , Italian Ufficio federale dell'ambiente UFAM , Romansh Uffizi federal d'ambient UFAM ) is a federal authority of the Swiss Confederation . It is Switzerland's environmental department and belongs to the Federal Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications DETEC .

history

In 1971 the Federal Office for Environmental Protection BUS was founded. 1989, it was after the merger with the Federal Office of Forestry and Landscape Protection BFL in the Federal Office for the Environment, Forests and Landscape renamed. On January 1, 2006, the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN emerged from the BUWAL and large parts of the Federal Office for Water and Geology BWG .

tasks

The FOEN is the specialist authority for the environment . It is responsible for the sustainable use of natural resources as well as for the protection of people from natural hazards and the protection of the environment from excessive pollution .

Based on the sustainability strategy of the Federal Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication, the FOEN pursues the following goals:

long-term conservation and sustainable use of natural resources ( soil , water , forest , air , climate , biological and landscape diversity ) and remedying existing impairments;
Protection of people from excessive exposure ( noise , harmful organisms and substances , non-ionizing radiation , waste , contaminated sites and accidents );
Protection of people and significant property from hydrological and geological dangers ( floods , earthquakes , avalanches , landslides , erosion and rock falls ).

In order to achieve these goals, the FOEN has the following tasks:

observe the environment as the basis of resource management;
preparing decisions for a comprehensive and coherent policy of sustainable management of natural resources and hazard prevention ;
Implement the legal basis, support the enforcement partners and provide information on the state of the environment and the possibility of using and protecting natural resources.