Swiss Academy of Sciences SCNAT
Bees and other pollinators: their significance for agriculture and biodiversity
SWISS ACADEMIES FACTSHEETS, VOL. 9, NO. 1, 2014
Honeybees and other insects are responsible for pollinating large numbers of plants, making them vital to the achievement of productive agriculture and functioning ecosystems. These pollinators are faced with a wide range of problems, however, and have suffered severe losses in terms of their overall numbers and the diversity of their species. The decline has affected not only honeybees, but also wild pollinators such as certain bumblebees and butterfly species. The factsheet highlights the various possible courses of action.
Akademien der Wissenschaften Schweiz (2014) Bienen und andere Bestäuber: Bedeutung für Landwirtschaft und Biodiversität. Swiss Academies Factsheets 9 (1).
Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences a+
Lighthouse Programmes in Sustainability Research and Innovation
Wuelser G, Edwards P (2025)
Lighthouse Programmes in Sustainability Research and Innovation
Swiss Academies Reports 20 (4)Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences a+
Ethical guidelines for animal experiments
The Swiss Animal Welfare Act permits the use of animals for certain scientific purposes; at the same time, however, it requires that the dignity of animals be respected and their welfare protected. For researchers, reconciling these various societal interests can be challenging. The ethical guidelines for animal experiments (2025) are designed to clarify the margin of discretion left by the legislation and to encourage researchers to reflect on the handling of animals in their experiments. The decisive factors for updating the previous version from 2005 were new scientific knowledge and research methods on the one hand, as well as changes in the legal framework on the other.
