LH Mikl-Leitner: “Greening measures to improve the microclimate and thus increase people’s quality of life”
St. Pölten (OTS) – “The effects of climate change are increasingly noticeable in Lower Austria. Especially in urban areas, rising temperatures and more frequent heat waves lead to major challenges for the population,” says State Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, who explains: “The ‘Plants4cooling’ project aims to improve the microclimate with targeted planting and greening measures and thus the To increase people’s quality of life. Lower Austria is taking a pioneering role here and shows how important it is to take active measures to adapt to climate change.”
“Plants4cooling” is a cross-border Interreg project together with “Nature in the Garden” Czech Republic. The project area includes the Waldviertel and Weinviertel in Lower Austria as well as the regions of South Moravia, South Bohemia and Vysočina in the Czech Republic. Through close collaboration, innovative solutions are to be developed and tested that ensure cooling, especially in problematic inner-city areas – primarily the use of climbing plants to cool narrow streets where tree planting is not possible.
A central component of the project is the development of a simple and applicable methodology for measuring the cooling effect of plants. The focus is on selective planting in problematic street areas in Austria and the Czech Republic, with the focus on shading and cooling the plants.
The first step is to evaluate pilot communities and create designs for possible plantings. The greenery will then be installed in spring 2025. Its cooling effect will be measured and documented by “Nature in the Garden” in the following years and the findings will ultimately be used to create a guide for other interested communities. The project will be co-financed by the European Union.
Details about the project below www.naturimgarten.at/plants4cooling.html
For further inquiries contact Nature in the Garden, press spokeswoman Carina Pürer, MA, telephone 0676 848 790 737, email carina.puerer@naturimgarten.at
Questions & Contact:
Office of the Lower Austrian State Government
State Office Directorate/Public Relations
Doris Zöger
02742/9005-13314
presse@noel.gv.at
www.noe.gv.at/presse