Consequences of Soil Loss for Food Security and Fiscal Options to Mitigate Losses

Austria is one of the most land-consuming countries in Europe. The amount of land available for agricultural production is constantly decreasing, with negative consequences for food security. The federal government's goal of limiting land use to 2.5 ha per day by 2030 could be missed because the Austrian constitution does not provide enough incentives for land allocation bodies to reduce land use. On the one hand, the project presents and quantifies the urgency of limiting land consumption in order to increase security of supply; on the other hand, it identifies and describes the possibilities of fiscal policy interventions, in particular tax policy interventions, and elaborates options for action and conclusions.