5.8 hectares of soil are sealed in Austria every day

Soil sealing is increasing in Austria. Last year, an average of ten hectares of land were used every day. The Federal Environment Agency reported on the occasion of World Soil Day on December 5th that 5.8 hectares were permanently lost due to sealing (asphalt or concrete).

The degree of sealing of 58 percent was higher in 2021 than in previous years, when it was around 40 percent.

The environmental organization WWF, Greenpeace and the Austrian hail insurance company criticized the situation. “The excessive consumption of land is one of the biggest drivers of the biodiversity and climate crisis. It increases natural disasters, endangers people’s health and, last but not least, leads to enormous energy consumption,” said Simon Pories, soil protection spokesman at WWF Austria. The WWF demands a binding upper limit of a maximum of one hectare per day.

Greenpeace wants land use to be reduced to 2.5 hectares per day by 2025 and to a maximum of one hectare per day by 2030. “Austria’s natural and living space is shrinking every day due to construction. Every day we lose a piece of our identity and become poorer,” said Kurt Weinberger, head of hail insurance, who has been campaigning against sealing for many years.

Maximum 2.5 hectares by 2030

In the government program, the Austrian government has committed itself to reducing land use to a maximum of 2.5 hectares per day by 2030. In order to achieve this, the federal, state and local governments would “work intensively on the completion of a soil strategy”, said Minister of Agriculture Norbert Totschnig. Regional planning is fundamentally in the competence of the federal states. According to Totschnig, the motto “quality before speed” applies to the ground strategy.

Source: Nachrichten