How a heatwave puts the right to roam on the agenda
With the first heatwave of the year officially heralding summer in Europe last week, many Austrians sought to cool off in one of the country's over 2,000 lakes. However, finding an access point could prove difficult as a large share of land along lakesides is private property.
Take Lake Wörth in Carinthia as an example: roughly 80% of the lakeside is inaccessible to the wider public. For several years, the heat of the debate concerning the right to roam has risen simultaneously with temperatures. Critical voices point to the ”freedom of way”, the Austrian version of the aforementioned right to roam. This law, stipulated in 1975 technically grants the public access to private uncultivated land, such as alpine pastures or lakesides.
The rich can better adapt to the heat than poorer people. The latter grapples with energy poverty, which is often mistaken for a problem only occurring in winter, but is an issue when there is no money left to pay for the electricity an AC needs.
The restricted access to formerly public land, such as lakesides, denies people with limited financial resources to fight the heat without burning through their wallets.