And according to the government’s sustainability goal, only 2.5 hectares should be used nationwide. Recently, the topic has received increased attention due to the clearing of 18 hectares of forest in Ohlsdorf, on which, as reported, a commercial building area is to be created.
A big problem with sealing is that it’s very difficult to undo. “In principle, unsealing is already possible,” says the ecologist and biologist Gerlinde Larndorfer-Armbruster, head of the Upper Austrian Soil Alliance. “You can remove the sealing, i.e. the layer of asphalt or concrete, and try to recultivate the natural soil structure.”
Top layer takes time
However, this is time-consuming and expensive – and the question of the quality of the resulting floor remains. “You could create a gravel lawn on a former parking lot or lay grass pavers,” says Armbruster-Larndorfer. Grass and flowers grow on such surfaces, they are much better at retaining water than asphalt or concrete. “But it is difficult if not impossible to rebuild fertile soil on a formerly sealed area on which food can also be cultivated,” says the ecologist. “After all, it takes 100 years for a centimeter of humus to form.” A very lively world can be found in the soil: there are plants and fungi in the soil, and various animals – such as insects, worms and snails – cavort there, as well as bacteria and microorganisms. Together they make the soil fertile. If sealed, this life is lost. Even when unsealed, it is slow to return.
“Only an emergency solution”
“To reduce sealing, unsealing is a sensible measure, but it is only an emergency solution,” says Larndorfer-Armbruster. Sealing an area with the argument that it will be demolished later doesn’t work from an ecological point of view, says the biologist: “The goal must therefore be to reduce soil consumption in the long term.” (whale)
Ohlsdorf in Parliament
After inquiries and a heated debate in the Upper Austrian state parliament, the controversial clearing in Ohlsdorf is now also an issue in the National Council. The Greens announced a request to Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger (VP). The sale of the approximately 18-hectare area, which was partly owned by the Federal Forests, should be questioned.
The Neos also want to raise the issue of the role of federal forests in the Ohlsdorf case in parliament with a request.
Source: Nachrichten
