Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

processes, and the climate
Source: Gottwald and Bovensmann (2011).

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1. Current Trends
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people.
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When a disaster strikes, both government 
and civil society stakeholders need a huge amount of 
information in a short space of time, but the details 
that they require are often only provided after a cer-
tain time lag. Every extra piece of relevant informa-
tion available at short notice thus helps that little bit 
more to alleviate human suffering and economic 
damage. The actual length of this delay in providing 
information can be determined within a certain range 
and largely depends on how well prepared the 
competent government services are for the task at 
hand. Fig. 1-37 illustrates this relationship and high-
lights the overriding aim of making the necessary 
information available faster and in as useful a form as 
possible.
In light of this, there are four key motivations behind 
the planned reform:
Motivation 1: combat climate change and geo-en-
vironmental challenges effectively
Climate change is having far-reaching consequences 
that are also making their presence felt in Austria. 
For instance, there has been a change in the range of 
potential hazards, e.g. those posed by land- and 
mudslides due to shifting rainfall patterns. At the 
111 See United Nations (2015).
same time, measures to mitigate and tackle climate 
change by expanding alternative energy sources and 
committing to using resources in a climate-neutral 
and environmentally sustainable way are also pro-
ducing more and more conflicts of interest. The many 
various measures for overcoming these challenges 
that are anchored in the current government pro-
gramme need to be underpinned by consolidated in-
formation.