Discussion Papers 2004.
New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the
Urban-Rural Relationship 105-118. p.
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE
RIVER TISZA
ANDRÁS DONÁT KOVÁCS
The River Tisza and the origins of the issues relating to it
The River Tisza is Hungary’s second longest river. Of its entire length of 997 km,
579 km lies in Hungary. The size of its catchment basin is 157,186 km², and its
average discharge is 820 m³/s in Szeged. With the two tributary streams Fehér and
Fekete-Tisza as its headwaters, it rises in the Máramaros Alps in the Ukraine. Cut-
ting across the range of the Carpathians at Huszt, it enters Hungary at Tiszaújlak.
With its middle section zigzagging the Great Hungarian Plain, it follows a direction
that is mainly north-to-south and meets the Danube at Titel in Serbia.
The Tisza Plain, a vast expanse of lowlands, evolved approximately 1 million
years ago, through the gradual silting of the basin of the Pannon Sea. It was not
until several hundred thousand years later that the Tisza and its tributaries emerged,
first as streams following depressions and replacing backwaters in wetlands dotted
with marshes and lakes. Prior to the river regulation in the 19th century, the mean-
dering watercourse of the Tisza had intertwined the lowlands. At some places there
were horseshoe bends in the river whose ends met. During floods, owing to
stronger currents and higher water pressure, the river cut across the ends and no
longer flowed around the loop of the bends. The loops thus left behind are called
oxbows (or backwaters). Areas around oxbows became marshlands owing to fre-
quent floods, with vast tracts of land lying waterlogged. Floods were a constant
danger to the life and property of the people inhabiting the Tisza Valley. Repeated
inundation lasting several months at a stretch prevented the development of farm-
ing and hindered communications – hence cultural advance – for long periods of
time.
For historical and geographical reasons, the regulation of the Tisza, a great en-
deavour, commenced as late as the mid–19th century. (The country, given its pre-
vailing economic strength at the time, had not been able to afford a project on this
scale before.) The Ottoman rule ended in most parts of the Tisza Valley only in the
late 17th century. The re-settling of these areas and economic re-organisation were
the greatest challenges in the 18th century. In the 1840s, encouraged by Count
István Széchenyi, the engineer Pál Vásárhelyi agreed to implement the regulation
of the river by cutting off its bends and straightening its course after having
conducted the necessary survey of the terrain. With over 100 short cuts made, it
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
106 ANDRÁS
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became 400 km shorter and, at the same time, its average incline became steeper
and its current became stronger, hence suitable for navigation. The risk of floods
turning floodplains into a sea diminished, allowing for the possibility of river
traffic. Through this successfully accomplished monumental task, unparalleled in
Europe, the country gained an area that was bigger than the total (flood-free) area
reclaimed from the sea in the Netherlands.
Up until the 19th century and prior to the establishment of modern communica-
tions networks, the River Tisza – owing to its extensive system of tributaries, flood
plains, navigable sections, varied and relatively developed settlements along the
elevated riverbanks and points of river-crossing – was a major axis of development
and spatial structure of the Great Plain. Over the one and the half centuries that
has passed since then, the general geographical and space structural position of
the river and its environs has undergone a dramatic transformation. Except for the
river-crossing points that have remained hubs of communications, the Tisza has
lost its importance as a major axis of development. Apart from a couple of major
large and medium-sized cities, the greater part of the Tisza region has gradually
become more marginalized in the economic and settlement structure of the Great
Plain that is undergoing slow modernisation and transformation. Agriculture has, to
an increasing extent, lost its capability for providing a livelihood, with its network
infrastructure falling consistently behind the already low average in the Great
Plain, the former organic ‘symbiosis’ between the settlements with their communi-
ties and the river having been discontinued.
Exerting a huge impact on the area along the Tisza, these profound and mostly
adverse processes are still ongoing. Meanwhile, as a result of the social, economic
and land use-related interventions in Hungary and in the river’s catchment basin as
well as the increasingly limited operation of the systems established through for-
mer water management measures, the Tisza region has become an increasingly
endangered zone. Dangers include floods, the appearance of inland waters, the
degradation of wildlife in natural habitats like oxbows and the abysmal state of
affairs in environmental terms (e.g. waste management and public utilities infra-
structure). All these make these settlements economically skewed and only moder-
ately viable.
Notwithstanding the above, the Tisza and its immediate environs continue to be
one of Europe’s most unspoiled rivers. Its unrivalled natural, cultural landscape,
ecological values and biological diversity are of utmost importance to the wildlife
of the entire Carpathian Basin and to the whole Hungarian populace. Due to an
obvious increase in aridity and frequent droughts in the Great Plain, the Tisza’s
water balance and water management (demand for drinking water, irrigation and
viable riverside tourism, etc.) have been growing in importance in both regional
and national economic terms.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIVER TISZA
107
All these phenomena simultaneously call for a modern, sustainable, complex
and concerted development of the Tisza region, which has to take into account the
special characteristics of the areas along the river.
Given the singular and area-specific nature of such a development, two key
factors must be taken into consideration:
– the Tisza and its environs treated as an organic whole
– the communities along the river, which have to deliberately rethink, reorgan-
ise and re-establish their relationship with the river, counting its inherent
dangers, but also its potential benefits.
Environmental problems in the Tisza region are rather intricate (Figure 1). Ac-
cordingly, several different approaches can be adopted and numerous solutions can
be offered. The primary concern of ecologists is the protection of the environ-
mental values of the ecological corridor. That for geographers is the preservation of
landscape components. Engineers and researchers responsible for environment
protection are intent on managing the sustainability of settlement environment
systems. Water management authorities have prepared the next stage of the
Vásárhelyi Plan with its related strategies.
The Vásárhelyi Plan is the most ambitious project of the past one hundred years
in Eastern Hungary. With a budget of HUF 170 billion, it will provide safer living
conditions for 1.5 million citizens. The core idea of the Plan is that peak
floodwaters would be diverted through large gated culverts built in the line of
dykes and retained in lowland reservoirs, which would be drained after the passage
of the flood wave. Of the close to 30 potential storage sites examined, 11 have been
selected for the construction of reservoirs, the first phase of which is scheduled for
implementation. The six envisaged reservoirs with a combined surface area of
24,000 hectares will allow for the permanent storage of 130 million m³ of water.
The thorniest issue at this point is the question of compensation, the one-off pay-
ment to the landowners affected by the plan to redress the loss of their land zoned
(designated) for the reservoirs. The Vásárhelyi Plan cannot, however, resolve the
problem of the high arsenic content of the water or the water management issues of
oxbows and the sand hills in the area lying between the Danube and Tisza rivers.
There are also a large number of economic, social and environmental issues out-
standing that require environmental projects based on comprehensive approaches
and the working-out of complex area and rural development solutions.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
108 ANDRÁS
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KOVÁCS
Figure 1
Borderline of Hungary and the position of main rivers
Conflicts and possible solutions
Environment protection and hydrology
The area along the River Tisza is seriously damaged ecologically. The landscape
has lost its former diversity both on a smaller and bigger scale, with ‘landscape
homogeneity’ dominant in certain areas. Despite the large number of such adverse
changes of an anthropogenic nature, the region is still of tremendous natural value.
In order for the remaining ecological features of the landscape to survive in the
longer term, there should be a change in awareness that meets the demands of
modern environment protection. The river can be preserved only if its entire
catchment basin is protected, and a related ecological network is established.
The harmonisation of ecological and other environmental systems is indispen-
sable for the sustainable development of the Tisza region, and is a must in modern
area and rural development. By reviving, developing and upgrading traditional
farming (e.g. forestry, turf management), farming on natural dykes (sandbanks),
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIVER TISZA
109
extensive animal husbandry, fruit production in flood plains and fishing, and by
establishing the infrastructure for tourism, a network of protected areas, a buffer
zone with turf and forest cover and transverse ecological corridors, one of most
beautiful riverside corridors in Hungary and Europe could be created.
Water balance, floods and the ecological state of affairs
One of the key factors affecting natural and economic processes in the lowland
small regions in the Tisza Valley is the river water reserves. A chief water balance
feature of the Tisza area is considerable water depletion caused by evaporation in
the summer. It is safe to say that smaller forest cover has significantly increased
climatic water shortage (proneness to droughts) and the number of surface waters
(inland waters and flood hazards). In consequence, compared to the natural eco-
logical state of affairs, the water balance of the Tisza region has become much
more extreme.
Attributable mostly to excessive use of ground water reserves, a reduction in the
level of ground water is common to vast areas in the Great Plain. Drinking water
supplies for the inhabitants in the Great Plain come mostly from waters present in
deep layers of aquifers. A large amount of drinking water comes from sub-surface
water reserves, whose natural arsenic content exceeds the threshold value laid
down in the new regulations governing drinking water quality.
Owing to its geographical location, the Tisza region faces recurrent floods. In-
herent features of the natural hydrological regime means that floods are not unusual
on rivers in Hungary. Floods by themselves spell no disaster. In the case of rivers
flanked with a line of dykes on either side, such situations only arise in the wake of
a failure of the defences and subsequent inundation of reclaimed flood plains.
Floods may occur on Hungarian rivers at any time of the year; floods caused by the
build-up of pack ice are common on some. Meteorological, hydrologic and histori-
cal geographical research into extreme situations suggests that not even flood
events of the recent years can be deemed as extreme. There are at least three over-
lapping cumulative causes of rises in the flood levels: an integrated emergence of
human activity in the catchment basin, the implications of new, hitherto unknown
weather conditions and, to a certain degree, the impact of the changes in the cli-
mate, the latter of which is still being hotly debated.
Owing to the discharge of the tributaries in the Tisza’s catchment basin, a total
amount of around 114-km3 water rushes down into the basin. This amount varies
from season to season, but results in the river overflowing its banks every 1.5 to 2
years. Major floods occur every five or six years, the duration of which may be 15
to 120 days along the middle and lower sections. After a considerable amount of
precipitation, the water level may rise by 8 to 10 metres on the Upper Tisza and the
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
110 ANDRÁS
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KOVÁCS
Körös Rivers. Incidents of peak floods seem to be on the rise, translating into an
increase of 990 mm on the Upper Tisza between 1970 and 1998. Recurrent floods
have led to large-scale regulations. At present, the length of the main line of dykes
flanking the Tisza is 2,944 km, just 55% of which complies with flood protection
requirements. As the last two years have shown, this defence system cannot with-
stand high flood waves: both buildings and agricultural areas may be seriously
damaged (Table 1).
Table 1
Estimated cost of damage to settlements and agriculture exposed to flooding
(in HUF billion, at 1996 prices) (Halcrow 1999)
Tisza Valley
National aggregate
Settlement damage
Damage to industrial assets
142.49
177.13
Damage to housing property
361.00
414.24
Other damage
228.67
270.03
Aggregate settlement damage
732.27
861.51
Agricultural damage
41.82 54.92
(for a 15-day inundation)
Total 774.09
916.43
Source: own calculation.
In addition to floods, inland waters also pose a serious challenge. The hazard of
inland waters has risen significantly. The capacity of the drainage system, due to a
marked deterioration in its state of repair, is a mere 10 to 50% of the original
amount. The overall size of the area exposed to inland waters is approximately 1.8
million hectares, that is close to 60% of cultivated arable land in the Great Plain.
Like flood protection, inland water protection is also an issue of safety and eco-
nomics, which is important not just in itself. Combined with drought protection, it
fundamentally decides how much the ecological and environment structure of ‘the
Tisza corridor can be regulated’, the optimal operation of the tourist industry and
navigation and potential energetics developments. The alignment of the functional
components of the hydrological spatial functions studied is only feasible through
the supervision of flood protection systems and water storage capacity.
A further major obstacle is that water management authorities are seriously un-
derfunded, with the central government providing only half of the funds needed for
their operation and the discharge of their duties. The financial sum for meeting
such responsibilities, all available dedicated funds included, fails to cover the
amounts set on the basis of technical standards.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIVER TISZA
111
In my opinion, the River Tisza in the future can no longer be regarded as a wa-
ter facility used for draining floodwater or a flood plain serving as an operational
arena. The Tisza Valley is a uniform ecological system manifesting itself in various
types of habitats and a series of landscapes. As part of an ecological network, it
serves simultaneously as a source, shelter and corridor. Owing to its roughly north-
to-south direction, the Tisza as an ecological corridor is of significance for Europe.
In contrast to its entire current length, its migration path is close to 2,000 km, the
importance of which, in terms of the development of current wildlife in the Carpa-
thian Basin, cannot be overestimated.
No radically new concept of flood protection can be worked out, as no natural
geographic, engineering, or economic conditions allow for the possibility of doing
so. Fortunately, there is no need for this. The development of existing flood pro-
tection facilities and the construction or reconstruction of reservoirs will provide
satisfactory protection for the country against flood events. However, the emer-
gency storage of extreme amounts of water poses ecological and other environ-
mental risks.
A general improvement in the quality of dykes (by resolving problems of
structure and elevation) and the construction of paved thoroughfares on their sur-
face would considerably enhance the efficiency of flood protection. In line with
social needs and as part of a 4,200 km cycle lane, paved thoroughfares would be
instrumental in eco-tourism, with lock-keeper’s lodges and flood protection centres
serving as information offices, places of accommodation, first aid and other types
of assistance and hubs of supply.
While placing flood and environment protection on new foundations, efforts
must be made to ensure that flood protection complies with general ecological re-
quirements (e.g. the designation of utilisation zones in flood plains and a concerted
re-think of land use).
Environment protection
The current environmental status of the Tisza Valley is unfavourable, owing to the
shortcomings of strategies for environment protection in Hungary and a dramatic
increase in cross-border pollution. The environmental infrastructure of the settle-
ments along the river is often obsolete, environment-related knowledge of promi-
nent public figures is lacking, and the environment awareness of the local popula-
tion is only occasional.
There are major industrial polluters in the region, which – despite the introduc-
tion of harsher measures and regulations, continue to add to the pollution of the
Tisza, the deterioration of its water quality and air pollution. With varying degrees
of success the majority of smaller settlements cope with the challenge of waste
management, sewage disposal and the inadequate use of space. These unresolved
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
112 ANDRÁS
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issues have led to the degradation of agricultural areas, the deterioration of soil
quality and forest management problems. Irreplaceable natural values and treasures
of national heritage have become endangered; the fate of the population along the
Tisza often seems bleak.
Though the frequency of extraordinary water pollution incidents on the river has
diminished, the number of such instances still exceeds 10. Approximately 60% of
them materialise in Hungary, 40% is cross-border pollution, the latter being more
severe than the former. As regards sub-surface waters, the ground water is invaria-
bly polluted, thus unsuitable for drinking-water purposes. Deeper sub-surface
drinking water reserves are exposed to a number of hazards. 74% of the soil along
the Tisza is susceptible to the spread of pollution, with 70% to acidic pollution (e.g.
acidic artificial manure exerting an acidic impact on the environment).
Of the fundamental environmental problems facing the settlements here, the
most worrying is the backwardness of piped sewage disposal and wastewater
treatment. Only 10% of the settlements have a comprehensive system of sewage
lines, while in 70% of them there is no wastewater treatment.
The unresolved issue of environmentally friendly waste disposal is also a major
environmental concern. Settlements along the Tisza produce an annual amount of
800,000 m3 or 160,000 tons of communal solid waste, which is disposed of locally.
Though there are two waste disposal plants operating on a small regional level,
both of them are unsuitable for processing increased amounts of waste. Of the
waste disposal plants currently operating, 60% are licensed to operate while 40%
are not. However, even those that are licensed fail to comply with environment
protection requirements.
Causes of low efficiency of environment protection in settlements include an
inadequate environment-protection awareness of local government officials and an
obsolete environment-protection policy in settlements. This is clearly reflected by
the fact that there are no environment action plans in 90% of the settlements.
Major long-term objectives include the establishment of an automated water
quality monitoring system, eliminating extraordinary water pollution incidents and
achieving permanent Class II water quality. In order that these goals can be
achieved, guarantees must be provided by international treaties and potential
sources of hazards to the river’s catchment basin must be identified and gradually
eliminated.
In addition, local governments should put the issue of protecting the water
quality of the Tisza (e.g. piped sewage disposal and waste water treatment) and the
provision of healthy living conditions for the population higher on their agenda. In
addition, communal waste disposal will have to be fully dealt with.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIVER TISZA
113
Problems and opportunities of agriculture
A classification study of soil types in the Tisza region based on agricultural utili-
sation has revealed that over a quarter – or 382,000 hectares – of the entire 1.4-
million-hectare area is unsuitable for agricultural cultivation. A further 193,000
hectares can be utilised only if amelioration is carried out, and market conditions
are favourable. On the whole, only about half of the overall area can be considered
to be of good quality in agricultural terms. This agriculturally valuable area is lo-
cated in roughly equal proportions in settlements close to and off the Tisza.
Despite this, the truly serious problem that faces the agrarian sector is not the
lack of quality soil. Rather, it is its failure to create jobs in the near future. Natural
and human resources can be harmonised only if a wider selection of the services
linked with agriculture is provided, and the manufacturing sector is expanded. The
development of the latter is one of the costliest and most difficult tasks. For, in
addition to developing industrial level manufacturing, special attention must be
paid to manufacturing and commerce within the estates of the small agricultural
producers.
Utilising farming methods based on centuries of experience and on traditions in
ethnographic descriptions, a solution can be framed that takes into account old
wisdom, and enables the modern residents to create a new harmony with nature.
Key points of action could be the following:
– Forests and fruit-tree groves (relying on the genetic pool of ancient local
types) must be planted on the elevations of the flood plain. It is orchards that
may become especially important, since experience amassed over the centu-
ries can still be accessed with ethnographic methods in the Upper Tisza re-
gion, say, where they are still practised. In addition to their economic useful-
ness, grove-like hard and soft wood forests may also contribute to a thriving
tourist industry.
– Another traditional solution might be to turn oxbows and backwaters into
fishponds. A network of lakes supplied with natural waters should be restored
as a legacy of farming on natural dykes (sandbanks). Once such a network is
restored, ecological conditions similar to those in the past that secured abun-
dant supplies of fish should be created in order that similarly ample supplies
of fish can be achieved again.
– The utilisation of flood land meadows and the revival of genetically invalu-
able ancient local types could revive those areas that could not be utilised for
any other purpose. At the same time, these meadows could be deliberately
flooded with river water and the fertile silt thus created could be commer-
cially utilised.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
114 ANDRÁS
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The role of tourism, a top priority, in the Tisza region
Rushing down from the Carpathian Mountains, the River Tisza, made up of small
streams with their confluence near the geographic centre of Europe, has tested the
endurance of those living along its banks on many occasions. Though its floods
often posed a menace to those who chose to settle in its vicinity, it has always
made up for the inconveniences with all it has to offer in terms of beauties and
treasures of nature. Even though human interventions have transformed its envi-
rons dramatically over the past 150 years, the Tisza has kept its appeal as a tourist
destination. Such appeal is irresistible to Hungarians (citizens of Hungary or ethnic
Hungarians in neighbouring countries) and foreign visitors alike.
The tourist industry along certain stretches of the river plays a significant role
on a national scale. Its significance is likely to further grow in the near future. The
Tisza is a key ecological corridor of the Carpathian Basin, along which there is a
string of contiguous areas. These small and medium-size landscapes (that is small
regions defined as units of area development and a cluster of settlements) are
popular tourist destinations. Offering splendid natural spectacles, cultural values
and traditions and (thermal and medicinal) watering places, the majority of the
landscapes are dedicated tourist destinations. The Upper Tisza region is a highly
diverse area, and has a lot to offer in terms of appeal. However, this appeal is
mostly confined to local and regional communities. That said, an unspoiled envi-
ronment, the folk traditions and architectural heritage of historic Bereg and a pro-
gramme called "The International Tisza Tour” attract a rising number of visitors.
As a result, even village tourism has recently found new avenues. Its main assets in
terms of tourism are areas in unique natural settings offering breath-taking land-
scapes, abundant in medicinal and thermal waters.
From a tourist point of view, the Tisza region is a nearly contiguous small
tourist region, its most fundamental feature being ambivalence. It is reflected in
overcrowding at popular watering places and watersport centres in the summer and
in the marginal position of so-far undiscovered and unexploited “virgin lands”.
Spatial inequalities in the dynamics of tourism affect the region unfavourably.
Along certain sections of the river, the infrastructure of tourism during the summer
months cannot cater for visitors to a satisfactory standard, thereby jeopardising
sustainability. In contrast, local entrepreneurs at other places along the river find it
hard to attract tourists, owing to poor access, lack of suitable accommodation and a
limited selection of programmes.
Another serious issue is seasonality. The recovery of the funds budgeted for
capital projects in tourism, owing to the seasonal nature of the industry – confined
to the summer months – is a slow process. It follows that some of the businesses
engaged in catering, organising programmes and accommodation are unable to
develop properly and successfully. Several such businesses have been barely
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIVER TISZA
115
breaking even for years, thus losing visitors’ interest in them. Settlement marketing,
advertising products unique to the tourist industry and an improved expertise and
foreign language skills of local communities may mitigate the strong effects of
seasonality.
Based on a local government questionnaire survey on R&D in the Tisza region,
the greatest obstacle to the development of the tourist industry in settlements along
the river was found to be lack of funds. Lack of places of accommodation and ca-
tering and satisfactory publicity for them, a middling or worse than middling infra-
structure and poor access are all acutely felt at a large number of places. Some
local governments believe that the lack of co-ordination and professional expertise,
the low standard of services and the local population’s attitude to this issue exert a
negative impact on the development of the tourist industry. Further factors that
cause delays in development include risks of high levels of water or the occurrence
of a near-flood situation, often rendering the annual planning of tourism unpredict-
able for local governments and businesses alike.
The development and envisaged future of tourism in the
Tisza Valley
The development concepts of the individual tourist regions and development ini-
tiatives for the industry offer a wide range of approaches to bring about develop-
ment. As we are spoiled for choice, it is hard to choose the best ones. Broadly
speaking, with regard to the settlements along the river, the following approaches
should be highlighted:
– the establishment of the basic infrastructure of the tourist industry;
– strengthening the role of a tourist information system and marketing;
– the working-out of sets of programmes so that highly sophisticated products
can be marketed.
The implementation of this vision is based on deliberate development, which is
only feasible if all local community members are involved. If what is envisaged
materialises, the growth rate of tourism in the Tisza Valley should be on a par with
that for the national average, with its economic performance capable of maintain-
ing or even increasing its current 5% to 10% share of the country’s revenues. In
order to achieve long-term objectives, tourism must be transformed into a prosper-
ous and sustainable business in the region, in such a way that neither the cultural
nor the natural environment is adversely affected, economic and social develop-
ment are enhanced, and a solid livelihood is provided for those living here, with
lucrative opportunities for businesses and excellent travel and holiday experiences
for tourists.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
116 ANDRÁS
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In order that the range of tourist industry products in the Tisza Valley can be
expanded and a new image can be created, an environment-friendly tourist indus-
try, i.e. eco-tourism, must be developed. This will also help achieve natural envi-
ronment, social and economic objectives, which, in turn, will enhance regional
development and provide a solid livelihood for the majority of the population.
Based on this, major objectives of the 2000–2006 period are the elimination of
current shortcomings and the development of new products and eco-tourism.
The ultimate aim of development projects is to turn the vision for the future
outlined in regional tourism development programmes into reality and attain all
long-term goals interlinked with them. To this end, environment and tourism-re-
lated as well as economic and social objectives must be taken into consideration;
simultaneously, in co-operation with spatial planning, tourism must be integrated
into the everyday life of communities. Responsibility for the successful imple-
mentation of these programmes lies with local governments and societies as well
as the local intelligentsia in the settlements along the River Tisza, for, as the ulti-
mate beneficiaries of the development and programmes recommended, they will
have to rise to the challenge of securing sustainable development in the Tisza re-
gion. It should be borne in mind that the Tisza and its environs represent immense
value and that the Tisza region will have a future of which it is part and which ex-
ists through it only if those responsible for it work towards such future creatively.
One of the preconditions for leisure and tourism to evolve is awareness of the val-
ues that environment represents in the individual settlements (Kiss, 2001).
It is safe to assume that, during Hungary’s run-up to EU accession, attention can
be directed to the problems facing the Tisza, the need for its protection and the
development possibilities of tourism along it. Of international importance, issues
related to the Tisza are, in effect, affect the whole of Europe. Along with environ-
ment protection, tourism, which can guarantee long-term development and safe
future in the region, is the supporting pillar of a pan-European task of maintaining
the sustainability of the landscapes along the Tisza and improving the welfare of
those living here.
Social problems in a narrower sense
Three quarters of the regions along the Tisza are traditionally rural small regions
with low population density (the population in the majority of the small regions
along the Tisza has been declining since 1990); their population is ageing and de-
creasing, and the rate of agricultural employment is high. Except for the regions
with larger cities (e.g. Szolnok and Szeged) in them, they are also hit hard by per-
manent unemployment, suffer from multiple disadvantages and exhibit the symp-
toms of being on the (inner) peripheries. (There are 25 small regions along the 579-
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RIVER TISZA
117
km-long Hungarian section of the Tisza. The 441 settlements located in these re-
gions have an aggregate population of 1,561,997. The number of the settlements
directly affected by the river is 141, with a population of over 700,000. Settlements
with urban functions and a population of over 25 thousand lie in the southern third
of the Tisza Valley. They may play a key role as suppliers to neighbouring villages
and as participants in rural development projects aimed at the Tisza and its envi-
rons.) The rate of unemployment is higher than the national average: 6.5% in the
area along the Tisza compared to the 5.5% national average. The proportion of
those permanently unemployed also exceeds the national average.
Aimed at enabling the small regions along the River Tisza to catch up, the eco-
nomic development project will have to tackle the issue of absorbing the labour
force shed by agriculture and relieve unemployment. If the Tisza axis in the Great
Plain is to serve nature and landscape rehabilitation and environment and nature
protection, development projects striving to create jobs, boost small businesses and
provide assistance to suppliers should focus primarily on the subsidised develop-
ment of small towns.
To this end, developing communications infrastructure in and improving access
to small regions along the Tisza as well as identifying potential environment-
friendly industries (e.g. the deliberate and concerted development of tourism, flood
plain farming and the manufacturing of marketable farming products with
distinctive features etc) are indispensable pre-conditions.
The attitude of the communities along the Tisza towards the river is ambiguous.
On the one hand, they are frequently scared and in awe of it; on the other, they like
it and feel a strong attachment to it. Only few persons have deep enough knowl-
edge of the river, its environs and current state of affairs that can translate into sat-
isfactory awareness or development projects. Community development perspec-
tives placed on new foundations must be worked out in regions that lag behind and
lose their creative intelligentsia. Moreover, ‘an intellectual and cultural publicity
campaign for the Tisza’, along with a marketing one, must be launched.
In many respects, the Tisza region is rather diverse. Spatial diversity, which can
be determined by means of a number of indicators, and a great number of different
processes are major aspects of planning and development. An overview of the cur-
rent state of affairs as well as the development needs and possibilities of the key
areas discussed in this study reveals that the future of the Tisza, its surrounding
landscapes and the regions along it as well as the working out of development pro-
jects for them are key issues of sustainable regional and rural development in the
entire the Great Plain.
It follows that the integration of the envisaged development in the Tisza region
into national and international regional development systems is indispensable.
Furthermore, a substantive network of regional, municipal, small regional, settle-
ment and civil co-operation and partnerships must be established.
Kovács, András Donát : Fundamental Issues Relating to the River Tisza.
In: New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-Rural Relationship.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2004. 105-118. p. Discussion Papers, Special
118 ANDRÁS
DONÁT
KOVÁCS
All potential development and interventions must be subordinated to the princi-
ples of sustainable development. Embraced also by the neighbouring countries, a
new concept of river regulation, water management and flood protection affecting
the entire catchment basin of the Tisza must be worked out at an international
level. It must be ensured that comprehensive rules governing the use of the envi-
ronment in the catchment basin are enshrined in law.
Landscape rehabilitation along the Tisza, the strengthening of ecological stabil-
ity, salvaging the environmental values of the settlements here and improving the
living standards of those living in the Tisza region are the responsibilities of deci-
sion-makers and researchers in Hungary.
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