The WWF is calling for a binding upper limit for land consumption in Austria
On the occasion of the new ACA report "Austrian Spatial Planning Conference - Office and Land Strategy", the WWF calls for a binding upper limit for land consumption in Austria.
"The report confirms our long-standing criticism of the toothless and ineffective land policy in Austria. Binding measures and a clear upper limit for land consumption are now needed quickly," says WWF soil protection spokesman Simon Pories. Such binding targets must be set at national, regional and local level, as recommended by the Court of Auditors, in order to guarantee their effectiveness. The WWF is therefore calling on the federal government to quickly specify and implement the soil protection measures announced in the government programme.
In its report, the Court of Audit criticizes, among other things, the lack of binding force and effectiveness of spatial planning policy in Austria. This is because the objectives formulated by the Austrian Conference on Spatial Planning (ÖROK) are merely voluntary and are largely not incorporated into actual laws. The fragmentation of competencies in spatial planning also results in a high coordination effort. In addition, the Court of Audit warns that non-compliance with soil protection targets also threatens to reduce EU funding by up to 110 million euros.
Land consumption far above sustainability target
For almost 23 years, Austria has had the so-called "sustainability target", which aims to limit land consumption to 2.5 hectares. However, as current calculations by the WWF show, this has been many times higher in the last ten years at around 11 hectares per day. "For decades, the soil protection target has been missed due to the constant construction of new roads, housing estates and business parks. We can no longer afford to continue as before," says Simon Pories from WWF. "What we need now are not more toothless paper tigers, but clear rules for the protection of our valuable soil in Austria."
