Youth Lead the Change

From a total of 43 submissions, the young jury selected 14 outstanding projects from the first call, which can look forward to funding from the BILLA Foundation Blühendes Österreich (Blooming Austria) and the Biodiversity Fund of the Ministry of Climate Protection. A total of 100,000 euros will be distributed, with a total project volume of 170,000 euros.

The project ideas come from the rural youth as well as from "Streetwork" youth workers, young farmers or students. Rural areas are just as well represented as urban environments. The selected projects make a valuable contribution to the protection, preservation and improvement of high-quality and threatened biotope types such as dry grasslands, extensively used pasture landscapes, wetlands as well as wet meadows and have an impact on an area of more than 40 hectares. Whether measures for flowering areas with native meadow species, water bodies, bats, hedges with native woody plants, butterflies, fruit trees or green lizards - the range of ideas for more biodiversity and species diversity is wide. The projects involve hundreds of teenagers and young adults in 14 projects.

"Changemaker #nature shows in a wonderful way what young people are made of and how committed they are to biodiversity and climate protection when given the opportunity. I am pleased that we support the diverse projects of committed young people with the Biodiversity Fund and thus contribute to awareness raising and active participation," said Dr. Astrid Rössler, Chairwoman of the Commission of the Austrian Biodiversity Fund and Member of the National Council.

Together with the partners Bundesjugendvertretung, CliMates Austria, GLOBAL 2000, Landjugend Österreich and BILLA Lehrlings- und Nachwuchsförderung, the BILLA Foundation supports the Changemakers of today and tomorrow. "With Changemaker #nature, we support committed young people who have innovative ideas for biodiversity and climate protection and thus turn them into shapers of sustainable development in Austria," emphasizes Robert Nagele, BILLA CEO.

By young people for young people

Changemaker #nature provides 300,000 euros for biodiversity projects, which will be awarded in three calls in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Young people are actively involved in the selection process: The volunteer jury consists exclusively of people aged 14 to 27. In addition, experts provide coaching and mentoring to the funded project partners.

"The first call of Changemaker #nature shows that young people want to get involved and can take responsibility. Both the young project sponsors and the volunteer jury prove that our youth can make an effective contribution to biodiversity and climate protection and to sustainable development in Austria," emphasizes Hildegard Aichberger, Director of Blooming Austria & Director of oekostrom AG.

The winners

Burgenland

On the slopes of the Leithagebirge and in the Rust hill country, the young farmers Matthias and Simon Erhardt are renaturalizing more than 17 hectares of valuable dry grassland and semi-dry grassland by grazing with old livestock breeds.

Anna Reichardt, a local councillor from Donnerskirchen, will work with the adult education center to turn the children of the community into Changemaker:ins for three years as part of the vacation care program. A total of 120 bat boxes, wild bee nesting aids and bird nesting boxes will be produced and hung up in the community.

"Together with the elementary school, we want to improve biodiversity in our community. In this way, the children learn from an early age to appreciate the biodiversity in their environment, "says Anna Reichardt, young winemaker and local councilor.

Vienna

By creating one hectare of near-natural habitats in urban areas, Ökocampus Wien, an association of committed students and graduates, creates valuable stepping stones in the middle of the city and thus protects numerous endangered species. With their interactive nature education, they allow the network of nature in Vienna to flourish.

Lower Austria

On the Wachberg in the Karlstetten region, Emanuel-Josef Wanas will revitalize and maintain more than 2 hectares of litter meadows, orchards and dry grasslands. Both his frugal Kashmir goats and the biodiversity of the areas will benefit from a late cut of the meadows, and grazing will also be carried out in places. "By renaturalizing species-rich flowering meadows and dry grasslands through targeted transhumance with Kashmir goats and late hay cuts, I can make my home community a small piece more livable and species-rich," emphasizes the young farmer Emanuel-Josef Wanas.

In Kirchberg an der Pielach and two other communities, young people want to work together with Streetwork Pielachtal to make 0.12 hectares of open space climate-friendly and biodiverse; existing areas are being ecologically upgraded and more flowering strips and deadwood zones are being created.

The Pfadfinder:innen Baden support the conversion of the black pine forest in their community into 1.5 hectares of near-natural and climate-smart mixed deciduous forest by removing invasive neophytes.

In Asparn an der Zaya, the Naturschutzjugend Niederösterreich (Nature Conservation Youth of Lower Austria) is working with students at the Asparn School Center to make community areas more natural, creating 0.3 hectares of biodiversity areas such as wildflower meadows, a green toad habitat, a sandarium, and deadwood and rock piles.

The valuable dry grasslands on the Spatzenberg in Nußdorf ob der Traisen are threatened by scrub encroachment and fallow. This is where the Ortolan Association comes in with a diverse catalog of measures and extensive grazing in order to renaturalize 0.6 hectares of these high-quality habitats.

In the Gainfarner Basin, the Bad Vöslau Boy Scouts are restoring an area of 0.3 hectares of wet meadows, which have become rare, by turning them over and mowing them once a year.

In Witzendorf on the outskirts of St. Pölten, Veronika Neumeister, Hermann Fahrnberger, Jan Brinkmann and their colleagues from the Global Youth Biodiversity Network Austria are transforming one hectare of former intensively used farmland into a biodiversity oasis. "Together we want to make intensive agricultural landscapes more natural and integrate biodiversity more into agriculture again," says Veronika Neumeister.

Styria

In the Enns Valley, Volker Seiser is working with the Styrian Nature Conservation Association to enhance the nature conservation of the valuable wet meadows along this important migratory bird route. Watering places for the feathered guests are being created on 12 hectares.

The Leibnitz Youth Center is transforming a former parking lot into a biodiversity area rich in species. On 0.075 hectares, meadow areas are thus created in the middle of the city; in addition, native trees and shrubs are planted. Young people are involved in the planning and implementation.

Salzburg

Thomas Holzer and the rural youth of Unternberg-Tomatal are alleviating the housing shortage of endangered species such as tree dormice, dormice and bats in Salzburg's Lungau region. 40 bat boards and 20 nesting boxes for the rare small mammals are hung on barns and in the community's forests and cared for.

Vorarlberg

In Hittisau, farmer Andreas Schwarz is replanting a meadow orchard on 0.9 hectares and ecologically enhancing the cultural landscape in the Nagefluhkette Nature Park by planting old varieties, hedge shrubs and herbaceous borders. "In the past, fruit trees were an important part of the cultural landscape in the Bregenzerwald. Nowadays, fruit growing in our region has almost been forgotten. Personally, it is a matter of concern to me to bring the knowledge of old fruit varieties and native shrubs back into the consciousness of the villagers and to provide an example of how grassland areas and forest margins can be made more structurally rich," affirms Andreas Schwarz.

Changemaker #nature is supported by the Biodiversity Fund of the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.

About Blühendes Österreich - BILLA non-profit private foundation

The BILLA foundation Blühendes Österreich is committed to a healthy environment and ecologically sustainable agriculture. Therefore, since 2015, Blühendes Österreich has been supporting around 230 farmers, nature conservation organizations, municipalities and other initiatives that protect our habitats, animals and plants through responsible agriculture and valuable environmental projects. Already 1056 hectares of endangered biotope areas are concretely secured. The website bluehendesoesterreich.at is the strongest digital platform for nature tourism and nature content. In the nature experience portal, Blühendes Österreich bundles close to 100 organizations with thousands of nature events per year. The Citizen Science app "Schmetterlinge Österreichs" ("Butterflies of Austria") is one of the largest nature observation apps in the German-speaking world, with over 50,000 downloads and the accompanying desktop version. www.bluehendesoesterreich.at

Queries & contact:

Dr. Judith Terlizzi, Head of Communications Blühendes Österreich, +43 676 711 74 50, j.terlizzi@bluehendesoesterreich.at