Umweltministerium#

Environmental Affairs, Ministry for, 1972-1987 Federal Ministry of Health and Environmental Protection, 1987-1994 Federal Ministry of Environmental Affairs, Youth and the Family, 1995-1996 Federal Ministry for Environmental Affairs, 1996-2000 renamed Federal Ministry of Environmental Affairs, Youth and the Family. Since 2000 environmental issues have been within the remit of the Federal Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management ( Ministry of Agriculture) and youth and family matters fall within the competence of the Federal Ministry for Social Security and Generations ( Ministry of Social Affairs).

The Ministry for Environmental Affairs was especially responsible for the following issues: general environmental policy, co-ordination in all fields of environmental protection, waste management, pollution control, affairs of the environmental ombudsman's office, environmental impact assessment, measuring, evaluation and documentation of measured values in the field of environmental protection, affairs concerning the protection of nature and the countryside, and of natural caves. The following institutions provided advisory support to the Ministry for Environmental Affairs: Altlastensanierungskommission/Commission for the Reclamation of Residual Contaminants, Wissenschaftlicher Rat fuer Abfallwirtschaft und Altlastensanierung/Scientific Council for Waste Management and the Reclamation of Residual Contaminants, Chemikalienkommission/Commission for Chemical Substances, Wissenschaftlicher Ausschuss der Chemikalienkommission/Scientific Committee of the Commission for Chemical Substances, Nationalpark-Beirat/National Park Advisory Board. The Vienna Umweltbundesamt (Federal Office for Environmental Affairs) with branch offices in Salzburg and Klagenfurt was responsible to the Ministry for Environmental Affairs.

From 1996-2000 the Ministry for Environmental Affairs also had the following competences: general family policy including its co-ordination and family promotion, affairs regarding the promotion of family counselling, equalisation of family burdens, maternity and infant welfare, general population policy, youth welfare, extracurricular education for young people and matters of family policy in the fields of housing, public duties, health care and health education, social insurance, and public education. An Advisory Board for Family Policy was also established.