"Wrong priorities"

Greenpeace criticizes lack of flood protection

Floods in Vienna

(Bild: krone.tv)

The NGO Greenpeace criticized the lack of natural flood protection in Austria on Monday. Since 2002, the budget for freeways and expressways has been significantly higher than that for the renaturation of waterways.

"Austria is building up soils, squeezing rivers and forgetting to give nature its space. This misspending is now taking its revenge," said Greenpeace spokesperson Ursula Bittner. Lower Austria in particular is a negative example. In 2023, around 500 times more money was spent on road construction than on watercourse restoration. Renaturation refers to the restoration of agricultural or industrial areas and bodies of water to a near-natural state.

According to Greenpeace, the current disaster shows that relying on passive flood protection such as dams and retention basins is not enough. "The next government must invest significantly more than before in natural flood protection and give nature back its place, because renaturation is flood protection."

Austria is building up land, squeezing rivers and forgetting to give nature its space. This misspending is now taking its revenge.

Ursula Bittner, Greenpeace

Over the years, the Austrian government has provided an average of 5.6 million euros for the restoration of watercourses. Other measures for natural flood protection include sustainable agriculture and the maintenance of Natura 2000 areas. The latter are a network of protected areas for endangered plant and animal species in the EU.

In comparison: since 2002, the federal government has spent an average of 550 million euros of taxpayers' money per year on highways and freeways. This reveals the wrong priorities, criticized Greenpeace in a press release on Monday.