A large number of local and regional community initiatives in Austria deal with the issue of implementation of environmental technology. Often these acitivities correspond to the intentions of the environmental policy targets of the state.
Thus the Institute for Technology Assessment was commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, Youth and Family Affairs to investigate local and regional community initiatives in different sectors of environmental technology to discuss a possible role of these initiatives as strategic partners in environmental policy. The initiatives were characterised by their potentiality and limitations. Diffusion of initiatives to other communities and statewide networking of initiatives were investigated too. To reflect and discuss the features of community initiatives a workshop was held attended by representatives of local and regional initiatives, regional and state authorities, consulting organisations and research institutions. The workshop also aimed at the elaboration of measures to support the efficient implementation of environmental technology by community initiatives.
Summarised the results showed the following means of support to community initiatives which the Ministry should deal with: increasing the sensitivity of the public to crucial environmental issues by an information policy offensive, designing efficient information-guides for citizens engaged in the environmental domain, providing aids to the infrastructures needed for the statewide networking of initiatives, diffusion of information on "work-tools" for consultants dealing with community initiatives, initiating workshops for these consultants to exchange and reflect on experiences in practice.
12/1995 - 12/1996