Occupation of the Hainburger Au

The Occupation of the Hainburger Au wetlands in December 1984 marked a turning point for environmental awareness in German speaking central Europe and was of great significance for the development of democratic processes in Austria.

In February 1983,[1] the Austrian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) began a campaign under the slogan "Rettet die Auen" to preserve the Hainburger Au flood plain.

As events unfolded, the nature of the protesters' demonstrations and a mass-occupation of the threatened area changed peoples' understanding of democracy as well as national energy policy in Austria.

[4][5] Under the Austrian Water Laws then in force, the "preferred" designation of the planned hydro-electric project gave it a special status "in the general [public] interest" [6] which would concentrate granting of the necessary regulatory approvals with a single authority, and correspondingly limit the number of stages in the process and the opportunities for appeal against decisions.

Two people, the journalist Günther Nenning and Gerhard Heilingbrunner, a leading officer of the Students' Union ("Österreichische Hochschülerinnen- und Hochschülerschaft")/(ÖH), now emerged as instigators of a campaign for a referendum on the conservation of the Hainburger Au wetlands, and their protection through the creation of a "National Park".

[citation needed] On 1 July 1986, the Austrian "Supreme Court" finally annulled the earlier decision to allow the construction of the Hainburger Au hydro-electric power plant.

[14][15] The Hainburger Au affair marked the first time that the role of successful civil disobedience was officially acknowledged as a valid component of direct democracy in Austria.

2003 saw a "symbolic" occupation to prevent the construction of tunnels under the Lobau (also part of the Danube-Auen National Park) which would be necessary for the completion of the outer ring road round the eastern side of the Vienna conurbation.

Even on the Austrian right, economic liberals stepped back from unqualified opposition to the Social Partnership model, and started talking about the Eco-social market economy ("Öko-soziale Marktwirtschaft").

[20][21] Environment policy and the protection of nature more generally, since the 1979 designation of Stausee as a reserve and the incorporation in 1981 of the Kaprun and nearby hydro-power plants into the High Tauern National Park, have become better integrated, and increasingly dealt with in the context such as wilderness conservation and a wider biosphere awareness.