Renaturation Act

“Soil sealers” are worried about the farmers

Yes to soil erosion (as here at Frunpark Asten), no to renaturation?(Bild: Dostal Harald)

The ÖVP and farmers' representatives are worried about agricultural land and food security in Upper Austria because of the EU renaturation law that came into force at the weekend. For the Greens, this is pure hypocrisy on the part of the concreting faction - which is apparently ignoring the same fear of soil sealing. 

Leonore Gewessler (Greens) is a "danger to the state" and should resign, demanded the ÖVP a few days ago. Why? Because the climate minister voted in favor of the EU renaturation law, which came into force last weekend, against the wishes of her coalition partner.

The population supports the law
The ÖVP-dominated Upper Austrian Chamber of Agriculture sees this as a "serious threat to domestic agriculture", while the FPÖ sees it as an "attack on the existence of our farmers". However, the majority of the population does not share this doomsday scenario. According to a Market survey, 82 percent of Austrians approve of the law, which aims to allow rivers to flow more freely, reforest more forests and rewet moors, among other things.

Sealing is "no problem at all"
However, the opponents of the law argue that all of this is at the expense of agricultural land and therefore jeopardizes food security. For Stefan Kaineder (Greens), State Councillor for the Environment, this is "irresponsible lobbying". Because when it comes to sealing green spaces, ÖVP members, for example, are much less squeamish: "For them, it's no problem at all if a fertile field disappears under a huge concrete supermarket square." But there should be no room for near-natural areas? "I lack a sense of humor here," says Kaineder.

And here, too, he sees his line supported by a recent survey by Foresight: When asked whether fertile fields and meadows should be legally protected from development, 92 percent agree with "very" or "fairly".