Tisza River Basin Research Articles

Stalled regime transition in the upper Tisza River Basin: the dynamics of linked action situations

Abstract In river basins transformation from traditions of reactive flood defense to more adaptive management regimes is difficult. How regime components reinforce each other to set its development path may induce inertia and path dependency. Transformation may require profound shifts in the institutions, technologies, and personnel as well as the ecological, economic and social processes they influence in setting the basin's trajectory. Regime change has become an issue in Hungary following repeated failures of conventional management policies to handle a series of floods on the Tisza river starting in 1997. Increasing public participation pushed water policy debate toward more experimentation with alternatives, but implementation appears stalled. In this paper we review hypotheses about what factors are bridges or barriers to transformation and then use the Management Transition Framework to examine how the interactions linking action situations, operational outcomes, knowledge and institutions influenced the river management policy debate in Hungary from 1997 to 2009. Specifically we examined which factors characteristic of conventional Control vs. progressive Adaptive management regimes influenced these interactions in ways that contributed to or hindered transformation. We found that governance and social learning issues predominated, with lesser roles played by factors related to integration of sectors and different levels in the science and policy of river management.

Surface water quality in the Carpathian basin: Current status and future directions

This article assesses the current challenges to water management in the Tisza River basin. We overview the environmental characteristics of the Tisza river basin and consider the economic setting within which water policy making must be conducted, before characterizing the principal water pollution sources in the region and assessing water quality monitoring data. We then compare the current status of the region’s waters to the normative goals for water quality improvement specified in the European Union Water Framework Directive. Lastly, we assess the future outlook for water quality in the Tisza basin, given the current status of water quality in the region and the prospects for successfully implementing water policy objectives.

Exploring earth system governance: A case study of floodplain management along the Tisza river in Hungary

This paper discusses a recently proposed conceptualisation of ‘earth system governance’ by applying it to floodplain management in the Hungarian Tisza river basin. By doing so it aims to improve our understanding of governance systems facilitating adaptation to a changing world. The conceptualisation of earth system governance consists of three elements: problem structure, principles and research challenges. These three elements are assessed using results from actor interviews and policy review. A regional example of natural resources management is found to be a valid case for earth system governance research. The proposed conceptualisation of earth system governance explains well the main problems, barriers and opportunities for adapting floodplain management to climate change in the Tisza region. Problem structure analysis highlights how previous socio-economic and political orders continue to shape expectations and patterns of conduct. Current barriers can be attributed to a lack of the key governance principles credibility, stability, inclusiveness and adaptiveness. Interviewees perceived the lack of credibility and effective cooperation between organisations as the largest barrier. The research challenges proposed for earth system governance agree well with opportunities identified for adapting Tisza floodplain management, calling for inclusion of actors beyond governments and state agencies, and equitable resource allocation in particular. The analysis suggests that an additional challenge for earth system governance is the prioritisation of actions to support an existing governance system and its actors in adapting.

Sampling Strategies for Testing and Evaluation of Soil Contamination in Riparian Systems at the Tisza River Basin, Hungary

During the year 2000, two significant pollution waves came from Romanian mines to Hungary and went along the Tisza River, causing serious damage to the ecosystem of the river. The first one, cyanide pollution, at the end of January had an instantaneous effect on the living system; the second, heavy‐metal pollution in March, resulted in a long‐term effect. The heavy‐metal pollution that arrived with floods had two results. On the one hand, increased water speed decreased the grade of sedimentation in the riverbed, and on the other hand, river flooding introduced contaminated water and sediment to the floodplain. After the withdrawal of the flood, a few centimeters of grey sediment remained in the floodplain. Subsequent floods in 2000 and 2001 resuspended and diluted the contaminated sediment on the floodplain. Heavy metals (primarily lead, zinc, cadmium) deposited on the floodplain may have a potential time bomb effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the copper, cadmium, zinc, and lead contamination and bio‐availability on the floodplain applying a novel sampling strategy.

Robustness trade-offs & diversification of land use to cope with climate related risks in the Hungarian Tisza River basin

This article was submitted without an abstract, please refer to the full-text PDF file.

Robustness trade-offs & diversification of land use to cope with climate related risks in the Hungarian Tisza River basin

Robustness trade-offs & diversification of land use to cope with climate related risks in the Hungarian Tisza River basin

Assessing the Resilience of a River Management Regime: Informal Learning in a Shadow Network in the Tisza River Basin

Sendzimir, J., P. Magnuszewski, Z. Flachner, P. Balogh, G. Molnar, A. Sarvari, and Z. Nagy 2007. Assessing the resilience of a river management regime: informal learning in a shadow network in the Tisza River Basin. Ecology and Society 13(1): 11. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02239-130111

River restoration in the Tisza River Basin: conflicting interests and the future of the aquatic macrophyte vegetation

The current status of the aquatic vegetation in significant Tisza River oxbows is described. Aspects of dominance and possible problems raised by protected, but aggressively competitive, species are highlighted. The gap between some stakeholder interests and the needs for sustaining biological quality in the oxbows is indicated. Predictive GIS scenarios for the Csatloi oxbow, which is a natural sanctuary in the middle reach of the Hungarian Tisza, show the results of possible management strategies. Sensible ecohydrological planning, and focussing stakeholder interests on different reaches of the floodplain, without sacrificing flood protection, are presented as the solution to urgent problems of river restoration.

The adaptive integrated data information system (AIDIS) for global water research

Global research programs related to river basin water resources have at least two things in common: (1) they assess and model hydrological process dynamics on a macro scale and (2) research partners jointly working on such research issues are internationally distributed in different institutions. These prerequisites require a sophisticated and scale bridging data assessment and information management comprising geo-referenced distributed data components, measured or simulated time series, and socio-economic information. Networking such international research structures by means of the internet pose new challenges to Geoinformatics in respect to the design of a Web based distributed database system, metadata and GIS-information management, geo-referenced data query and visualization. Such data management must include powerful and efficient data exchanging software tools and information sharing policies to ensure that decision making can jointly be done on the base of the best information available. Geoinformation includes raster and vector GIS coverages, measured process time series data and associated metadata. Furthermore there are needs to integrate multidisciplinary information and research knowledge related to IWRM comprising information obtained by remote sensing, GIS analysis, modeling, and socio-economic assessments for vulnerability and mitigation. Addressing these challenges and to cope with such data organization and management tasks the Adaptive Integrated Data Information System (AIDIS) has been developed by the DGHM at the FSU-Jena. It is based on open source software (OSS) and a multi tier class hierarchy structure. AIDIS has implemented the full ISO 19115 metadata model, and enhances its structure if required e.g. for time series or documents. A first prototype was developed for the Challenge Program “Water and Food” (CPWF) of the CGIAR and has been improved and refined for the Tisza River basin within the “Tisza River” EU-project comprising at present about one hundred GIS maps and more than 5000 measured and simulated time series.

Anticipatory modeling of biocomplexity in the Tisza River Basin: First steps to establish a participatory adaptive framework

Initial successes in flood control in the Tisza River Basin (TRB) have repeatedly given way to surprising and catastrophic reversals over the past 130 years since implementation of the original Vásárhelyi river engineering plan. Recurrent and parallel crises in economic, ecological and socio-cultural domains of the TRB suggest systemic linkages far broader than imagined in the economic paradigms that drove the reshaping of the TRB. Typical of ‘policy resistance’, these problems have ‘wickedly’ resisted repeated efforts to solve them. Future river basin management needs conceptual and methodological tools to develop more comprehensive models that account for the complexity of the wider diversity of these systemic linkages and the resultant non-linear dynamics. Biocomplexity is one attempt to elaborate a more comprehensive conceptual paradigm. This paper describes how the authors applied a method, causal loop diagramming, as a means to graphically examine what aspects of system structure might generate surprising and counter-intuitive policy reversals characteristic of wicked problems. We applied this method in advance of collaboration with stakeholders as a means to deepen our intuition about the system's complexity as a way to better prepare to facilitate participatory modeling exercises within the Adaptive Management (AM) tradition.

The Effect of Changes in Forest Area on the Transcarpathian Tisza River Basin

Forests are unique global factors which ensure life for almost every living being on Earth. They play a major role in controlling water flows, preventing erosion and controlling the oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere. By the end of the XXth century, it was realized that forests help to nature maintain and are vital parts of our natural environment. By the time societies realized this fact, economic and environmental effects had amplified which endanger forests. Due to their good water control and water protection abilities, and their function in climate control, mountain forests can provide a suitable environment for themselves, for their successful growth.Forests play a major role in soil protection, especially in mountain areas where they prevent soil erosion. By converting surface waters into subsurface waters, forests help with the accumulation of subsurface waters, which are the sources of springs, rivers and streams. In the summer, they protect the soil from drying out by creating a special microclimate. They positively affect the climate of surrounding territories.

Multiobjective optimization in river basin development

Multiobjective optimization in water resources planning consists in trading off noncommensurable objectives within the framework of a complex and dynamic process. Multiobjective optimization is performed at two levels: first, an engineering level, which may be labeled a decision‐making aid phase; and then, a managerial level of acceptance of the solution. The engineering level optimization may be performed by means of a cost‐effectiveness approach followed by the application of compromise programing, which consists of choosing a compromise solution located as close as possible to an ideal but non‐feasible solution. In this paper this combined method is applied to the design of a water resources system in the Central Tisza River Basin in Hungary. The results obtained by following this approach are compared to those in David and Duckstein (1976) and Keeney and Wood (1977), who used, respectively ELECTRE and multiattribute utility theory instead of compromise programing to study the same basin. The proposed methodology is able to lead to either one of the two different decisions resulting from the other studies. A brief discussion of possible approaches for final choice of alternative system is given. Key words in this paper are multiobjective optimization, decision‐making aid, cost‐effectiveness approach, compromise programing, and river basin development.

An illustrative example of the use of multiattribute utility theory for water resource planning

Selecting a plan to develop the water resources of a region involves the consideration of economic, environmental, social, and technical objectives. Twelve attributes are defined to indicate the degree to which such objectives are achieved in the Tisza River basin of Hungary. A preliminary multiattribute utility function is assessed over these attributes. This is combined with existing information describing the possible consequences of five alternative development plans to yield an overall rating of their desirability. The utility function explicitly indicates the preference trade‐offs among attributes. Discussion indicates further uses of the utility function in the planning and evaluation processes.

Scheme for the multipurpose use and conservation of water resources in the Tisza River basin within the territory of the USSR

Scheme for the multipurpose use and conservation of water resources in the Tisza River basin within the territory of the USSR