NGO report: 100 square meters of soil are used every minute in Austria

Especially in the lockdown, many Austrians have come to appreciate the green: walking, hiking, cycling. But the possible freedom for outdoor activities is increasingly shrinking. According to a report presented on Tuesday by the environmental protection organization WWF, soil sealing and consumption have reached a high level in Austria: According to the NGO, the area of ​​Vienna is rebuilt approximately every ten years.

According to Maria Schachinger from WWF, the three main drivers for the construction are massive road construction, urban sprawl and the construction of large-scale infrastructure. Accordingly, the number of shopping centers and business parks in Austria has more than doubled in the past twenty years.

Schachinger speaks of a failure in supra-regional spatial planning especially when it comes to road construction. So many roads have now been built across the country that the route stretches around the equator three times, the environmentalist calculates. Austria has one of the densest road networks in all of Europe. At the same time, the infrastructure for bikes and trains could be expanded, and many people were dependent on cars.

According to the report, almost a fifth of the habitable or agriculturally suitable area is already built up, and only seven percent of the country's area is classified as "very close to nature". This development would continue unhindered, it said in a press conference on Tuesday. Accordingly, the sustainability target of a maximum of 2.5 hectares of land consumption per day by 2010 has since been exceeded by over 42,000 hectares. The three-year mean land consumption is currently around 4,440 hectares per year. According to WWF calculations, an average of 100 square meters of ground is lost every minute.

From the point of view of environmentalists, the increasing sealing and construction brings with it a multitude of problems: The fragmentation of the landscape by roads hinders migration of animals and is bad for biodiversity, according to the WWF. But building pleasure is also a problem for people. Especially in cities, sealing would increasingly lead to heat islands.

The often criticized construction of single-family houses is not particularly significant from the point of view of the organization. Much more important is the question of where the house is. From the WWF's point of view, politics could set targeted incentives through housing subsidies and land use. Individuals could also help by doing without gravel gardens and paved parking spaces.

From the point of view of the organization, what is more worrying is the widening gap between the population and the built-up area: While the population has grown by 10.4 percent since 2001, land use rose by 27 percent over the same period, according to the report.

The subject would still not be legally binding, criticized Hanna Simons, deputy managing director of the environmental protection organization. The separation of powers between the federal government, the federal states and the municipalities would lead to more urban sprawl: If the federal states give the municipalities room to maneuver, this is used. In Austria, for example, there are too many exemptions in the construction sector and counterproductive financial incentives. This includes Simon's climate-damaging grants and subsidies, such as the commuter allowance, which she believes is driving urban sprawl. In addition, the municipal tax would encourage competition between the municipalities instead of supporting thinking in terms of municipal associations.

The organization calls on the government to establish a soil protection contract between the federal, state and local governments and to limit construction to a maximum of one hectare per day by 2030. How this area should be divided among the municipalities is no easy task, it said on Tuesday. Different dynamics in metropolitan areas and in rural areas must be taken into account here.

In addition, the WFF suggests creating a nationwide vacancy database so that the existing infrastructure can be better used. The NGO is certain that the current vacancy could be filled with suitable funding programs.