Austria

C

Natural Resources

Austria has sizeable deposits of iron ore, lignite, magnesite, petroleum, and natural gas and is a prime world supplier of high-grade graphite. Some small deposits of bituminous coal have been mined, as well as lead, zinc, copper, kaolin, gypsum, mica, quartz, salt, bauxite, antimony, and talc.

Rich terra rossa (red) soils predominate in Austrian valleys. At slightly higher elevations, the soil is of a brown forest type. Alpine meadow soils are usually found in high-altitude regions.

D

Plants and Animals

Deciduous trees, mainly beech, oak, and birch, are predominant in the lower altitudes; spruce, fir, larch, and stone pine extend to the tree line. The higher altitudes have a very brief season during which alpine plants, including edelweiss, gentians, primroses, buttercups, and monkshoods, come into brilliant flower.

Wildlife is generally scarce in Austria. Chamois, deer, and marmots are still represented; bears, which were once abundant, are now almost completely absent. Hunting is strictly regulated to protect the remaining species.

E

Environmental Concerns

Industrial emissions, a high volume of tourist traffic, and significant air pollution from other countries—principally Germany, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic—combine to make acid rain the major environmental problem in Austria. One-quarter of the forests suffer some acid damage, and tree cover may be significantly reduced in some areas. To combat this problem, the country has imposed the most stringent motor vehicle exhaust standards in Europe. Other environmental threats include agricultural expansion, damming of rivers for hydroelectric power generation, and erosion caused by loss of forest cover. Austria is blessed with many mountain watercourses, from which the country cleanly generates much of its power, and even exports some. However, this capacity is seasonal and the country must import energy from its neighbours during the winter months. A single nuclear power plant was constructed in the 1970s but, because of public opposition, was decommissioned before it began operating. Ironically, in 1986, only eight years later, Austria was heavily contaminated by fallout from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine. In 1991, fearing similar contamination from unsafe nuclear plants in the Czech Republic, the Austrian government distributed potassium iodine tablets to all citizens to combat the effects of thyroid radiation poisoning. The president also proposed a nuclear-free zone encompassing Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia), and Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Yugoslavia). Currently, the country is involved in arguments with the Czech Republic over that nation’s nuclear reactor at Temelin, which the Austrian government believes is a safety threat.

Austria is 47 per cent forested (1995), with most forests located in the alpine zone and consisting of fir, pine, and oak, or oak and chestnut at lower elevations. About 85 per cent of the forests are reserved for timber harvest. Wetlands have been reduced to 10 per cent of their historic extent. Austria's land protection system exists mostly as separate designations of the nine provinces. Overall, about 24 per cent of the country is under some form of protection, including three national parks and hundreds of nature reserves, nature parks, and landscape reserves. Hunting and fishing, with local restrictions, are generally allowed throughout the system. Austria contains 18 Council of Europe (CE) biogenetic reserves and six biosphere reserves under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Austria has joined with its neighbours in formulating plans to protect the Alps and is working towards transborder protected area designations with Germany and Hungary as well as signing and ratifying the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

III

Population

The Austrian people are German-speaking, but the country has a varied ethnic mixture—a legacy from the time of the multinational Habsburg Austria. It includes significant numbers of Croats and Magyars (in Burgenland); Slovenes (in Carinthia); Czechs (in Vienna); and small numbers of Italians, Serbs, and Romanians. An influx of refugees in the post-World War II years increased their numbers and new groups—Turks, for example—were added.

A

Population Characteristics

Austria has a population of 8,199,783 (2007 estimate). Overall population density is about 100 per sq km (258 per sq mi). About 66 per cent of the population is urban, with almost one third of the people living in the five largest cities: Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, and Innsbruck.