In the 1990s, wilderness areas in Switzerland covered just under 8,000 square kilometers, which corresponds to roughly 19% of the country’s expanse.

The table below lists wilderness areas in Switzerland in the 1990s (1992 to 1997), categorized by altitude and ground cover and indicated in square kilometers (km2) and percent (%) of the area at that particular altitude. Moreover, forest wilderness areas are listed with a 95% confidence interval.

Meters above sea level	Expanse	Forest wilderness areas		Glaciers		Other wilderness areas		Total
	km²	km²	%	km²	%	km²	%	km²	%
< 600	10'737	30 ± 14	< 1	0	0	1	< 1	31 ± 14	< 1
600 – 1'199	11'542	203 ± 36	2	0	0	6	< 1	208 ± 36	2
1'200 – 1'799	6'996	623 ± 61	9	2	< 1	172	2	796 ± 61	11
≥ 1'800	12'010	373 ± 46	3	1'297	11	5'184	43	6'902 ± 46	57
Total	41'285	1'228 ± 81	3	1'298	3	5'362	13	7'937 ± 81	19

Interpretation Example
In the 1990s, 6,902 square kilometers or 57% of the expanse located above 1,800 meters above sea level were left to nature. Of these wilderness areas, 1,297 square kilometers were covered by glaciers.

Comments
• Wilderness areas are predominantly located above 1,800 meters above sea level.
• There are hardly any lowland wilderness areas left outside forests, except for a few isolated small-range wild wetlands.
• “Other wilderness areas” encompass rock, sand and scree as well as unproductive shrub, grass and forb vegetation.
• Glaciers and firn cover 3% of Switzerland’s expanse.
• Forest wilderness areas are recorded using sampling surveys by the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI). They have a 95% likelihood of covering between 1,148 and 1,309 square kilometers, which corresponds to 2.8% and 3.2% respectively of the country’s expanse.
• Some of Switzerland’s forest wilderness areas are “nature forest reserves” which are not harvested by forestry. With their habitat deliberately left to follow natural life cycles, many trees are once again able to reach their full biological age. Between 2001 and 2007, the area of nature forest reserves has doubled to just over 150 square kilometers.

For details on the development in Switzerland’s six biogeographical regions, please refer to the complete E3 datasheet.

Below 1,800 meters above sea level, 95% of Switzerland’s expanse are located less than 500 meters away from infrastructures. Above 1,800 meters, that share still reaches 33%. All these areas are not considered to be “wilderness areas”, since natural processes might be disturbed.

Unlike what could be assumed, it is not harboring an above-average diversity of species that makes wilderness areas so valuable, but the undisturbed nature of processes taking place there. Scree and rock faces, for example, are very poor in species. But these areas develop abiding by their own laws, offering habitats to specialized species.

Such undisturbed development results in “natural” and sustainable conditions. For one thing, forest wilderness areas hold a larger number of massive trees than production forests, not to mention a larger share of old forest and deadwood. Many insects, fungi, lichen, and birds are wholly or partly dependent on such structures and low-disturbance forest areas. However, forest wilderness areas tend to be denser and, hence, darker than production forests, since only natural events such as mud flows, avalanches, storms, and old trees falling will create open spaces. Since many plant and animal species need light and warmth, they will not find suitable habitats in such forests. For this reason, an increase in forest wilderness may negatively affect biodiversity. The same effect will be caused by forest wilderness spreading out onto former dry grassland.

It is safe to assume that the current climate change will affect the composition of high-altitude wilderness areas, with rocks and moraines exposed by melting glaciers, and the tree line shifted upwards.

Autres sources d’information
> www.bfs.admin.ch (Federal Statistical Office, range statistics; not available in English)
> www.swisstopo.admin.ch (Comprehensive information on VECTOR25, the digital landscape model of Switzerland)
> www.lfi.ch (Comprehensive information on the Swiss National Forest Inventory)

> Complete E3 datasheet (120 KB)

This information is based on the document 800 318.10 Produkt E3 V3_en.doc dated Mai 17, 2009.