Austria

Like many of its European neighbors, Austria has a storied past (Johann Strauss, Sigmund Freud, Art Nouveau and noteworthy architecture, to name a few). Its strategic location, with easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys, make it a crossroads of central Europe. The country is topographically diverse and with its relatively large east-west span, has three quite distinct climatic regions. The Austrian government encourages wind energy and solar power with tax concessions offered to citizens who install solar panels. Austria signed the Kyoto Protocol in April 1998. After climate change talks were held in Vienna in August 2007, the country observed a reduction in air and soil pollution from industrial chemicals, and a ban of leaded gasoline.

The Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity was inspired by the world community's growing commitment to sustainable development. It represents a dramatic step forward in the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

The following discusses Austria's plans for biodiversity nationwide:

Australia has substantially moved towards specific, time bound and measurable outcomes in regional planning under the National Action Plan on Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) and the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT). Regional plans are playing an important role in protecting and enhancing Australia's unique biodiversity, the viability of rural and regional communities and the future of agricultural industries. Resource Condition Indicators, coordinated by the Australian Government’s Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group (MEWG), are being developed primarily to measure the performance of investments made under funding programs and to contribute to overall assessments of resource condition. The EPBC Act provides for the identification and listing of threatened species and ecological communities, the development of recovery plans for listed species and communities, the recognition of key threatening processes, and where appropriate, reducing the impact of these processes through the development and implementation of threat abatement plans. The international movement of wildlife and wildlife products for commercial purposes is also regulated under the EPBC Act and legislation to meet CITES obligations. The threat of pollution on the conservation of biodiversity is being addressed through the National Pollutant Inventory, whose goals include the maintenance and improvement of ambient air quality as well as marine, estuarine and fresh water quality.

Between 2002 and 2004, terrestrial protected areas increased by 0.44% of the total land area. Designation of marine protected areas has accelerated over the reporting period with one of the most significant increases occurring because of the rezoning of the entire Great Barrier Reef, which became law in July 2004. The proportion of the Marine Park protected under ‘no-take’ zones was increased from less than 5% to more than 33%, and now protects representative examples of each of the 70 broad habitat types identified across the Great Barrier Reef region. By the end of 2002 the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) covered approximately 64,600,000 hectares or 7% of Australia's marine jurisdiction.

Source: Convention on Biodiversity