Austria

Basic information

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Mechanisms of Vertical Integration

National — sub-national linkages

Several institutional arrangements foster the cooperation and coordination between the national and sub-national levels in the NSDS process:

• The ‘Actors Network Sustainable Austria’ is intended to facilitate networking among SD coordinators from the national, regional and local levels. In order to exchange experience on SD issues, a network journal is published and regular network meetings, including workshops, are held. At the meetings, planned projects are presented and experiences with ongoing projects on the regional level are discussed also. From 2010 onwards, the activities of the actors network will be closely linked with the implementation of the new Federal SD Strategy, its further development and the process of working programme development.
• ‘Round Table Sustainable Austria’: Since 1998, members of the Actors Network Sustainable Austria meet annually in ‘round tables’ that are organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management in cooperation with one of the Austrian regions. The round table meetings focus on the exchange of experience and information among actors of different working fields and different levels of implementation. During the preparation of the NSDS, one round table meeting was dedicated to discuss governance issues and the expectations of different stakeholders related to the strategy. In 2009, two round tables were held: the first one focused on sustainable resource use and transition towards sustainable lifestyles, at the second the actors network discussed the challenges of demographic development and options to cope with it. The next round table is planned for end of 2010 (click here for more information on the round table meetings).
• The ‘Expert Conference of National and Regional SD Coordinators’ was approved by the Conference of the Regional First Ministers in 2000. National and regional SD coordinators meet twice a year in order to develop common activities and to coordinate the implementation of SD strategies and policies.
• Regional SD coordinators participate in the ‘Committee for a Sustainable Austria’, the key institution on the national level for the implementation and further development of the NSDS. The Committee is responsible for the development of work programmes and the progress reports.
• External support - Federal SD Strategy (common strategy of the national and regional level): The external contractor supports the conversion of the present work program and the development of the next work program. He also supports the preparation of progress report and assists institutional arrangements fostering the cooperation and coordination between the national and sub-national levels in the NSDS process (see above).

Local Agenda 21 (LA 21) is regarded as an important approach to implement SD at the regional and local level. In 2002, a sub-group of the ‘Expert Conference of National and Regional SD Coordinators’ was established to improve coordination of LA 21 activities. Part of the activities of this sub-group is the ‘LA 21 Summit’ which is held every 1-2 years. It is intended as a ‘dialogue forum’ on LA 21 issues and is organised by the LA21 coordinators in cooperation with the Austrian regions.

EU linkages

The renewed EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (EU SDS) that was adopted in June 2006 foresees that Member States bi-annually report about how they address the priorities of the EU SDS. Austria has published its first national report on implementing the EU SDS in July 2007.

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Mechanisms of Horizontal Integration

Horizontal coordination is fostered by the ‘Committee for a Sustainable Austria’ that includes representatives from several federal ministries, social partners and the regions (representatives of the ‘Expert Conference of National and Regional SD Coordinators’). Moreover, a ‘Sustainable Development Steering Group’ was established on the national level to coordinate SD activities among the different ministries.

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Evaluation and Review

Transparency in, and information on the progress in the implementation of the NSDS is considered as important. Several measures are foreseen:

1. Work programmes define specific measures and objectives that are to be implemented. They also refer to relevant sectoral and institutional competencies. Work programmes were published in 2003 and 2004. Here are the links to the 2003 Work Programme (in German) and the 2004 Work Programme (in German).
2. Progress reports about the implementation activities: The progress reports describe the results achieved in the implementation and present new implementation measures. The last Progress Report was issued in 2006 (in German).
3. In autumn 2005, an external evaluation of the implementation activities and results achieved regarding NSDS was conducted by a group of independent researchers. It is intended to use the evaluation for the further development and modification of the NSDS. The full evaluation report was made publicly available in German in 2006. A summary of the evaluation report is also available in English.

In 2005, the NSDS and it´s mechanisms of horizontal and vertical integration were audited by the Austrian Court of Auditors; the report published in September 2006 is to be downloaded here.

In 2009, the Austrian Court of Auditors also carried out an audit of the integration of SD in the federal provinces Niederösterreich, Steiermark and Vorarlberg; the results were published in February 2010. The relevant reports are provided here. Also in 2009, the Austrian Court of Auditors audited the mechanisms and performance of SD integration in the federal provinces Wien, Kärnten and Oberösterreich, and carried out a review on the federal level also. The results will be published in 2010.

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Indicators and Monitoring

Austria has elaborated an “indicator based monitoring system for the overall assessment of sustainable development [...] based on what is known as the 2-sphere model” in July 2006 (a report describing the elaboration process can be downloaded here). The set consists of 82 indicators structured along the 2 spheres 'Man/Society' and 'Environment'. 26 SDIs are used as headline indicators for communication purposes. In October 2007 and in June 2009, indicator reports as well as smaller reports depicting only the headline indicators have been published (available here). Data for all indicators in excel-files can also be downloaded here.

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Participation

At the end of 2002, a strategy group was established to define participation in relation to SD and to interlink the actors working in this field in Austria. The strategy group comprised 20 persons from administration, academia, consulting, NGOs, etc. They drew up practical recommendations (‘work sheets for public participation’) and discussed with stakeholder groups.

In July 2008, the Council of Ministers approved the new “standards of public participation” that were developed by an inter-ministerial working group that included several stakeholders (social partners and NGOs) and experts. These standards should be applied by the administration when developing programmes and policies.

For a detailed documentation of all advisory and participatory councils (for SD and/or the environment) in this country, please go to the EEAC website at http://www.eeac-net.org/bodies/austria/austria_frame.htm and click on one of the listed institutions.

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Sub-national activities

Regional SD strategies and LA 21 initiatives

Local/regional Agenda 21 in Austria:

In the year 1998, the first Local Agenda 21 processes (pilot-processes) started in Austria. Currently, more than 430 processes at local level (equaling 18 % of the total number of municipalities in Austria) and 35 at regional level (regions, districts) can be found. Processes at regional level cover political districts as well as tourist regions or aggregations of communities. A constantly increasing number of processes in Austria can be observed. The number of LA21 processes is measured periodically by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. Further details [interner link http://www.sd-network.eu/?k=country%20profiles&s=indicators&country=Austria]

Local Agenda 21 is strongly linked to the NSDS (2002) and the currently developed Federal SD Strategy.

Organisation at regional level (9 Austrian regions):

Each of the 9 regions has developed its own co-ordinating office providing quality management, evaluation, training of moderators, subsidies in processes and projects, communication etc. For further details please visit our website for Local Agenda 21 at www.nachhaltigkeit.at

Cooperation in Austria - the “DNS-LA21 workgroup“:

To provide wider support, a working-group on Local Agenda 21, the “DNS-LA21”, has been established by the “Sustainability Coordinators of Austria” in 2003. A board of representatives of the 9 Austrian regions and of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management developed the “Joint Declaration on Local Agenda 21 in Austria”, which was politically adopted by the “Conference of the Environmental Spokespersons of the Federal Provinces” on 9th October 2003. According to this declaration, a work program was implemented and is being further developed. Tasks of the board „DNS-LA21“:

• Implementing the tasks of the “Joint Declaration on Local Agenda 21 in Austria” in a view of a “Good Governance Model” for Austrian local authorities
• Bilateral cooperation between the individual regions
• Coordination of common topics and public relation by the federal ministry
• Coordination and organisation of the Austrian Summit on Local Agenda 21 every 18 months; 6th Summit (29 September - 1 October 2010) 
• Quality management; developing methods for a long-term stabilization of processes
• Political and institutional lobbying

Which criteria have to be fulfilled to declare a process a “Local Agenda 21”?

To ensure high quality of processes, a set of five criteria was elaborated by a working group of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW) together with the heads of the co-ordinating offices of the 9 Austrian regions. These criteria at the same time build up the basis for the uptake of municipalities or regions into the register of Austrian Local Agenda 21 processes.

• Political decision at local level – has to be fulfilled
• Participation of local civil society – has to be fulfilled
• Mission statement for Sustainable Development – has to be fulfilled
• Co-ordinated learning process (targeted goals, measures, projects) – scheduled level
• Cross-community exchange and networking – scheduled level

Subsidies and support from national and/or regional level

Each of the 9 regions has developed its own co-ordinating office providing quality management, evaluation, training of moderators, subsidies in processes and projects, communication etc.

Local Agenda is usually directly supported by the responsible co-ordinating office of each region. Subsidies are provided for keeping high quality standards, training of moderators and citizens, pilot projects, public relation (events, materials, web pages), networks etc.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management provides support for co-ordinating common topics, public relation and for the recurring “Austrian Summit on Local Agenda 21”. An internet platform for LA 21 (www.nachhaltigkeit.at/la21) provided y the Federal Ministry presents the most important information about LA 21, a list of co-ordinating offices as well as a register, furthermore periodically a representative Austrian process is introduced.

Within the national research programme “proVision” of the “Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research”, Local Agenda was included as an explicit topic, which triggered funding of several research activities over the last years.

Also Local Agenda 21 receives subsidies by “The Austrian Programme for Rural Development 2007- 2013”.

Common topics (e.g. participation, environment, economy, social, etc):

Depending on the requests of participating citizens, common topics range from the economic, to the environmental and the social field. Topics often focus on efficient use of energy (f.e. increasing the efficiency of natural resource use, low-energy buildings,etc.)

Participation:

On the one hand, stakeholder groups consist of citizens with special interest in improving their living situations in their community regarding principles of sustainable development. On the other hand, representatives of public authorities, the governing mayor himself and in some cases representatives from business are involved.

Evaluation:

 In the regions Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Styria and Vienna evaluations have been arranged autonomously. Each of them confirms the previous path and illustrates future needs for improvements. In particular, criteria regarding success and impacts of processes were analysed.

Indicators:

Local authorities taking part in Local Agenda 21 apply indicators depending on selected topics such as energy, social welfare, etc. These indicators are newly developed or taken from a sample of recommended indicators by the coordinating office of the region.

Contact details:

Chairperson of the Expert Group „Decentralised Sustainability Strategies and Local Agenda 21“ („DNS-LA21“):

• Upper Austrian Academy  for Environment and Nature [www.agenda21-ooe.at], DI Günther Humer [guenther.humer@ooe.gv.at]

National Co-ordination for Local Agenda 21

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW), Division II/3

• Dr. Wolfram Tertschnig [wolfram.tertschnig@lebensministerium.at]
• Mag. Martina Schmalnauer [martina.schmalnauer@umweltbundesamt.at]

Organisation at regional level

Each of the 9 Austrian regions has its own co-ordinating office. For further details please visit our website for Local Agenda 21 at www.nachhaltigkeit.at.

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This Country Profile has been last updated on: Friday, 19 March 2010

For the sources used in the country profiles, please click here.