As part of the new Swiss agricultural policy from 2014 – 2017 support for agriculture prioritises promotion of biodiversity and encourages the creation of agro-environmental networks.

Environment 02

The professional members of a network undertake voluntarily to maintain and indeed develop biodiversity within a defined perimeter. They undertake to preserve or create biodiversity promotion surfaces within their agricultural holdings to provide connections between the various natural habitats identified beforehand by the office. The approach favours mobility and dispersion of the flora and fauna in the network.


Other objectives connected to promoting low-impact tourism and with developing local regional produce are generally integrated into the approach.


In Entremont and Saillon for instance we were appointed to write the initial evaluation report – cataloguing the local flora and fauna - to map the network, propose biological objectives and measures to achieve them and then meet the agriculturists and review with them what areas to allocate as biodiversity promotion surfaces.


BTEE was then appointed to monitor farmers and assess the effects of the measures on the flora and fauna over the 8 years of the project. BTEE can also perform administrative management of the network if necessary.