Austria as a country is focused on environmental conservation, to the extent that she has a green political party that focuses on environmental laws and the government does its best to ensure green living. Overall, Austria is doing a relatively good job in maintaining a low carbon footprint and promoting sustainable living. However, there are some issues as well. Though this text, I will explain 3 rather unknown environmental problems that Austria faces.

Transit traffic in Tirol

The past few decades have seen a great increase in the transit of cars and lorries. This creates a problem for the regions of Tirol and Salzburg because some of the most important North-South routes that connect Italy to the North of Europe run through these areas. People believe that Europeans have been showing increased signs of mobility which is a factor in this increase in transit. However, the fact that the formally communist eastern countries have opened into the area also contributes to these transport related problems.

20 years ago the Brenner Mountain Pass only had up to 600,000 vehicles per year. However today there are up to 10 million vehicles per year which is a drastic increase. For years now the environmental groups have been trying to lobby for a more restrictive traffic policy because this traffic also causes noise pollution. Proposals have been made to create more tunnel systems to ensure lesser noise pollution and to implement traffic limitations through higher taxes.

The environment in the Alps

The world has seen massive industrialization in the past century. This has also been a part of the development of rural and mountainous regions of Austria as well. Villages have been modernized and have developed. This also has lead to more tourism because the areas in the Alps are famous for their beautiful sights all year around. In fact, in some areas, there are 20 hotel beds per capita. 

Recently I had visited the the Alps foothills area in Tirol for a sports tournament. I was surprised to see the landscape dotted with hotels. Many such places have budget accommodations with multiple occupancy rooms which further increases the density of floating population in peak holiday seasons.

Tourism has also affected the natural ecosystems. The agriculture in those areas is also suffering. These days the crops are not enough to provide a steady sustainable benefit and most survive through subsidies. People often do not realize the 'importance versus damage for existing ecosystems'. 

The local authorities make efforts to increase awareness and impose stringent rules for eco protection.

Impact on Agriculture 

Agriculture in general has also suffered in a drastic way due to the heavy use of artificial fertilizers. Back in the 1970s when there was not much environmental awareness there was a major negative impact in the landmasses due to industrialization of agriculture. This damage can be even seen today. Austria is doing what it can to fight back by creating multiple National Parks and motivating environmental projects to neutralize the negative effects from the past. 

Austrians are also extremely cautious when it comes to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). There have been multiple restrictive laws on the tuse of GMO products.

Sources and References

http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/environment.htm