Boosting resilience through innovative risk governance: the case of Alpine areas in Austria

This chapter summarises the country case study findings of boosting resilience through innovative risk governance in Austria. After an overview over the prevalence of natural hazards, focusing on Austria’s Alpine regions, and the past social and economic costs of disasters, the chapter documents Austria’s progress in establishing resilience against major disasters through disaster risk prevention and mitigation measures. The chapter illustrates Austria’s long-standing tradition in dealing with natural hazards and shows how responsibilities are shared across government sectors and levels. It also highlights the effective integration of citizens and communities in risk disaster risk management, from assessing hazards to financing disaster risk prevention. The chapter puts forward recommendations to confront future prevention challenges, such as meeting continuously increasing demand for new protection measures and the growing need to invest in the maintenance of existing infrastructure to sustain the intended protection levels.