ABSTRACT
In 1992, the Austrian government initiated the development of a National Environmental Plan (National Umwelt Plan, NUP), which would seek to integrate environmental quality objectives into all policy sectors and outline Austria’s long-term environmental management strategy for sustainable development. The plan, adopted by the government in May 1995, ‘is meant to serve as a binding frame of reference for all concerned’. The document represents the end of a ‘development phase’, based on a ‘broad consensus in the fields of science, economy and politics’. An English translation is available (AustMoE, 1995). Seven working groups were set up, consisting of government officials and representatives of industry, trading and agricultural associations, employers’ organizations, environmental NGOs and the scientific community. They were asked:
to operationalize and implement the principle of sustainability in environment-related policy sectors in Austria. A key objective was to define long-range and strategically oriented ecological goals of a qualitative and quantitative nature; the vision was to transcend traditional media and sectoral boundaries. Furthermore, integrated medium- and long-term concepts of environmental care were to be developed and firmly anchored in the body politic.
(AustMoE, 1995)