The BILLA Foundation Blühendes Österreich (Blooming Austria), together with BirdLife Austria, prevailed in the final of the European Citizens' Award against 20 other applicants and brought the victory for its foundation programme FLORA to Austria for the first time. With FLORA, Blühendes Österreich has been supporting and strengthening communities, organisations and farmers in Natura 2000 and European protected areas for several years and was nominated in the category “Cross-Border Cooperation”.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, announced the winners during the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Natura 2000 network in Brussels and congratulated them, saying: “Protecting and restoring the European Union's natural heritage and biodiversity is crucial to mitigating climate change and sustaining life on Earth for future generations. Over the past 30 years, thousands of professionals, volunteers and stakeholders have worked to protect nature and restore ecosystems. These people have made the Natura 2000 network the success it is today. In award ceremonies, the trophy always goes to one person, but we should all feel like winners, because when nature is protected, the benefits are there for all of us.”
Elke Wilgmann, BILLA CEO, is thrilled that the motivated and long-term commitment of Blühendes Österreich is appreciated as excellent work at the highest European level: “I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the people who have committed themselves to nature conservation within the framework of FLORA and, of course, to those who voted for our BILLA Foundation Blühendes Österreich with their votes and support in the citizens' voting and also contributed to this great success. We are on the right track, even if there is still a lot to do in terms of nature conservation.”
FLORA: The European Citizens' Award winning programme significantly strengthens regional nature conservation in Austria
Within the framework of the FLORA Foundation Programme, Blühendes Österreich has financed municipalities, farmers and organisations in the development, establishment and implementation of their organisational and operational structures as well as in habitat management with almost 1.5 million euros from 2015 to 2022. In addition, the BILLA Foundation provides nature conservation advice, accompanying press and media work and mobilisation of further partners in the sense of the Collective Impact approach.
Through this cooperation, the management and cultivation of - directly 400 and indirectly 500 hectares - of open land or High Nature Valuable Farmland could be ensured. As the measures were implemented across areas and federal provinces, Blühendes Österreich has secured and improved habitats such as endangered biotopes, priority species and habitats - including dry grasslands, semi-dry grasslands, whistling grass meadows, grassland fallows, field margins, ruderal meadows, tall shrubs, tall grass meadows and mountain meadows. In the course of this, endangered endemic species such as meadow breeders, insects, snails, vertebrates, orchid species in the open countryside and in cultivated and agricultural landscapes could be protected.
The excellent FLORA programme was implemented in eastern Austria, primarily in Lower Austria, and is based on the biotope type catalogue – the Red List – of Austria. The measures included a total of 28 European protected areas and 45 FLORA partners throughout Austria. Through public-private partnerships, new nature conservation organisations and cooperations were established in the Natura 2000 sites Waldviertel, Wachau, Wienerwald-Thermenregion, Kalkalpen, Westliches Weinviertel and Steinfeld. In addition, the development and establishment of new nature conservation organisations such as “Bergwiesn” in Upper Austria or “freenature” and “Thermenlinie-Wienerwald” in Lower Austria was significantly supported by leveraging additional partners.
In addition to the FLORA programme, Blühendes Österreich has financed further project activities in European protected areas in Burgenland, Carinthia, Styria and Tyrol.
About Natura 2000 protected areas
The Natura 2000 network of protected areas was established by the EU to halt the loss of species and habitats and to permanently safeguard Europe's natural habitats. The network is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and now covers 18 percent of Europe's land area and nine percent of its marine areas. Natura 2000 is the largest network of nature reserves in the world. The activities in the Natura 2000 protected areas not only protect endangered native plant and animal species, but also store 35 billion tonnes of CO2. Thus, the Natura 2000 network also contributes significantly to climate protection. The legal basis for Natura 2000 sites is provided by the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, the Natura 2000 network in Austria comprises 350 sites, 272 of which are legally designated as European protected areas. The individual provincial governments nominate corresponding sites and notify them to the EU Commission.
