The NGO AllRise has sued the Republic of Austria for land use. The lawsuit at the Constitutional Court is mainly based on the non-implementation of various EU directives, such as the Water Framework Directive.
“We believe that the fight against the climate crisis will largely take place in the courts, because we need clear decisions and politicians who do not deliver,” AllRise co-founder and lawyer Wolfram Proksch said in Vienna on Thursday. Austrians could only live or farm 37 percent of the land in the country. Land use is high.
Surface or floor sealing refers to covering the floor watertight and airtight. In Germany, about 11.3 hectares of land are used every day, about half of which are also sealed. The government’s turquoise-green program lists a target path to reduce land use to 2.5 hectares per day, but there are no legal requirements yet. The EU had already pointed out to Austria several times that measures were lacking.
consequences for the environment and health
Soil consumption has consequences for the environment and climate, but also for human and animal health. Sufficiently intact soils are important for CO₂ storage and for food safety. “Our global ecosystem is not just air, there is a very strong interaction between all elements (…). There are an incredible number of creatures living in this soil that we urgently need to preserve our nature, for the entire ecosystem,” says climate researcher Helga Kromp-Kolb, who supports the project.
It is financed by a crowdfunding campaign that has raised 25,000 euros so far and will run until the end of May. About 60 people from all over Austria have contacted the NGO dealing with new construction projects whose added value is controversial. The NGO also receives support from NEOS, among others. An open letter from more than 175 scientists to Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) was also published on Thursday. They call for action against land use.
Narrower highways and conversion
“The longer there is no strategic implementation plan, the more difficult and unlikely it will be to achieve the goals presented and pursued, and the more necessary food imports and upheavals in domestic agriculture will become,” it says. For example, it is useful to reduce lane width on highways by 20 percent. In addition, renovations and the use of vacant homes are proposed so that fewer new homes need to be built.
Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) responded in an initial statement by saying that a soil strategy is already being worked on. “It is essential to take regional circumstances into account and to work out a satisfactory strategy together with the states and interest groups.” Whether the Constitutional Court will accept the lawsuit will be decided in the coming weeks.
Source: Krone
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