What you need to know about the world

class=”sc-3778e872-0 cgWkHT”>

The global political situation looks bleak, think 76 percent of the Swiss. But what do you know?

A few figures: three out of every hundred people are migrants. On average there is one pandemic every century, but since the beginning of the new millennium there have been six. Maintaining biodiversity costs $700 billion annually. 70 percent of climate refugees are women.

These facts also apply to Switzerland. And there’s more: The new book “Looking Out” from the think tank Foraus details 26 global developments that are important to the Swiss – but too often under their radar. “The discussions revolve around individual issues such as the issue of arms exports,” says Markus Herrmann, 42, co-editor of the new Foraus book. “There is a lack of an overarching positioning of Switzerland in a world in transition that also takes global developments fully into account.”

The European Union is moving strongly towards strategic autonomy and is now pursuing a strict industrial policy. For the Swiss economy, this increases the risk of adverse market disruptions and negative impacts on value chains. Hardly anyone in this country notices that. “We are focused on the bilateral relationship and are only slowly realizing what is happening around us,” says Markus Herrmann.

Same with climate change. “Switzerland is disproportionately affected,” says co-editor Anna Stünzi (32). At the same time, the country also makes an above-average contribution. “If you include emissions abroad, Swiss emissions per capita are three times the global average.”

If you want to position yourself in the world, you need to know. However, the book does not answer how Switzerland should position itself specifically. Anna Stünzi: “We don’t want to put forward a fixed point of view, but we want to start a well-founded debate.”

Source:Blick