2023-10-04 05:00:30
Federal Environment Agency report has been filed in the Ministry of Agriculture since 2022 – WWF calls for a soil strategy with binding goals: “State blockade negligent”
Vienna (OTS) – The Ministry of Agriculture has had concrete land consumption reduction targets for the federal states since March 2022, but has neither published them nor incorporated them into the planned land strategy. This is shown by previously secret documents available to the environmental protection organization WWF. Specifically, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has calculated 2030 targets for all federal states on behalf of the ministry in order to align them with the national target of 2.5 hectares per day. “The report from the Federal Environment Agency shows it in black and white: all federal states must massively reduce their land consumption. “That’s why binding strategies and measures against land consumption are needed quickly,” says Simon Pories from WWF. The environmental protection organization therefore demands that the federal states give up their “negligent blockade” against binding targets. In a further step, a nationwide law is needed so that the strategy does not end up as an ineffective declaration of intent. “Austria is extremely wasteful with valuable land. “Politicians must therefore finally take concrete action instead of letting important studies disappear into the drawer,” criticizes Pories.
According to UBA calculations, in order to meet the national 2.5 hectare target, Lower Austria, for example, would have to reduce its land consumption by around three quarters by 2030 – specifically to 0.61 hectares per day. Upper Austria (target value: 0.51 hectares) and Styria (0.43 hectares) would also have to reduce their consumption of land. “In recent years, each of these countries has single-handedly used as much land as was intended for the whole of Austria. It can not go on like that. Otherwise, we will not only sabotage climate and nature protection, but also endanger long-term food securitysays WWF soil protection spokesman Simon Pories.
“Achieving these goals is a large but achievable task. By greening spatial planning, the tax system and financial equalization, politicians can set the necessary course. At the same time, spatial planning skills must finally be reformed,” says Simon Pories from WWF. “In addition, politicians must mobilize vacancies and increase renovations.”
Austria has wanted to limit land consumption to 2.5 hectares per day since 2002, but has still failed to achieve this goal. “This is also because politicians have never made this goal binding and specific,” says Simon Pories. For its report on “Regionalization of the target for land use”, the Federal Environment Agency takes into account not only the population, but also the settlement structure of the regions and economic aspects. The average daily land consumption from 2016 to 2020 serves as a comparison value. “The goals are comprehensibly argued and should therefore be widely discussed publicly instead of just disappearing into a drawer,” says Simon Pories from the WWF.
You can find a graphical version of the previously unpublished report from the Federal Environment Agency here for download.
Questions & Contact:
Valentin Ladstätter; Press spokesman for WWF Austria
+43/676 83 488 257; valentin.ladstaetter@wwf.at
1696395835
#Land #consumption #WWF #unveils #report #federal #state #reduction #targets