Rheinaubund
The Rheinau covenant was a total Swiss independent and non-profit environmental organization with a focus on water conservation , based in Schaffhausen . It arose 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 the anchoring of nature and homeland protection in the federal constitution and was nationally legitimized for association complaints.
In 2012 the two water protection organizations Rheinaubund and AQUA VIVA merged to form Aqua Viva .
aims
The association campaigned for the protection and restoration of near-natural bodies of water and water landscapes, in particular for the ecological requirements of rivers . He saw himself as an advocate for the implementation of the water protection law , floodplain ordinance and related decrees. With training and public relations work, he wanted to promote understanding of ecological relationships, in particular for water protection that takes into account the demands of people and nature on an equal footing.
activities
The association advised authorities and designers. With VivaRiva he ran environmental education with the aim of sensitizing students and teachers to living waters. With the magazine natur + Mensch and media work, he informed his members and the public about issues relating to water protection.
history
The association, founded in 1960, was one of the pioneering organizations of the environmental movement in Switzerland. Its emergence was 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 worked in cooperation with the Lia Naira in 1957/1958 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. Another wish was the preservation of the Koblenzer Lauffen .
In 1962, a majority of Swiss voters 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 .
Today, the association is committed to the protection and restoration of near-natural bodies of water and water landscapes and has the right to lodge a complaint. The most important mouthpiece of the Rheinaunbund was its regular magazine natur + 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.
With the “Viva Riva” project, founded in 2006, students and teachers were given “water experience days” to impart knowledge about rivers.
literature
- 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
- Matthias Nast: Focus on untamed waters: 50 years of the Rheinaubund (PDF; 1.2 MB). In: natur und Mensch , 2/2010. Pp. 23-27.
- 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.
Web links
- Website of the Rheinaubund successor organization aqua viva
- Holdings: "Rheinaubund" in the finding aids and the image + sound database of the Swiss Social Archives