Abstract
Lake Balaton, a large shallow lake with some 600 km2 surface area, with its 3.5 m average depth, is among the shallowest lakes in the World and one of the most important lakes in Europe in terms of ecological, economic and cultural aspects. Intervention in the natural environment of lakes, especially shallow ones of high vulnerability and low resilience may result in detrimental and often irreversible changes. In case of Lake Balaton, irreversible changes include the reduction of lake level and subsequent construction directly on the lakeshore as well as introduction of foreign species such as eel and silver carp. Reasons for the negative results/impacts of the introduced interventions are: insufficient level of technical or scientific knowledge at the time of planning and implementation; poor decision support systems and mechanisms; insufficient consultation with local people and experts of other fields; lack of integrated approach, both in terms of territorial and interdisciplinary aspects; and pursuing of short term economic or political benefits. Compared to the situation one and a half centuries ago, many of the reasons leading to adverse effects can be eliminated because technical and scientific knowledge is increasing with high speed and huge amount of monitoring, etc. data are becoming available; decision support systems and mechanisms are getting faster and are improving in complexity; consultation with, participation, and empowerment of local people, stakeholders and a diverse choice of experts are becoming basic requirements in environmental and spatial development policy; integrated approaches both in terms of territorial and interdisciplinary aspects are gathering momentum. It would be of great importance to stop pursuing short term economic gains and political benefits when significant interventions into lake environments are considered.
Highlights
Lake Balaton, a large shallow lake with some 600 km2 surface area, is one of the most important lakes in Europe in terms of ecological, economic and cultural aspects
Lake Balaton is used for several purposes or, from the viewpoint of the lake, it provides a number of ecological services, i.e. water supply resources, flood control, effluent disposal, food production, recreation, transportation, sustaining food web and ecological diversity, regulating local climate and, last but not least, natural beauty and inspiration
Lake Balaton Recreational Area (LBRA, mostly called “Balaton Region”) is a legal entity determined by the Regional Development Act (Act XXI of 1996 on Regional Development and Spatial Planning) consists of 180 municipalities in the neighbourhood of the lake
Summary
Lake Balaton, a large shallow lake with some 600 km surface area, is one of the most important lakes in Europe in terms of ecological, economic and cultural aspects. It is the largest lake by surface area on the continent - not taking Scandinavia and Russia into account. There are 44 municipalities situated around the lake that have direct shoreline. These are considered the primary beneficiaries of the existence of the lake. In addition to the 70 thousand households of permanent residents, another 70 thousand holiday houses and apartments are in the Region. (BKÜ Helyzetelemzés 2013) There are 317 municipalities with a total permanent population of 350 thousand people in the watershed of Lake Balaton, which is one of the 4 individual river basin districts (RBD No 4) in Hungary
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