Hungarian authorities have been channeling water into a vast area within the country’s Hortobagy National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to ensure its marshlands do not dry out because of this year’s severe drought.
Importance of the Marshlands
The Hortobagy “Puszta”, a magnet for tourists, comprises plains and wetlands in eastern Hungary and is an important stopover for tens of thousands of migratory birds, which build nests and breed here before flying to Africa as autumn nears.
The area called “Fekete ret” (Black Meadow) is the largest marshland and once belonged to the former floodplains of the Tisza river, with its lower-lying parts irrigated by the floods. However, the area dried up for the first time in 2013. Then in 2022, at the time of the previous severe drought, it dried out completely and more than 800 hectares burned down.
Climate Change Impact
Climate change and less precipitation have long had an impact, also affecting birds’ migration patterns, according to Lajos Gal, a regional unit manager of the Hortobagy National Park Directorate with more than three decades of experience working in the marshes.
“The spring migrations are starting earlier… Since there are no really cold winters, we don’t really have to wait for a warming after the long winter and then the spring migration begins, but the birds come back over a prolonged period, not all at once,” Gal said.
About 2 million cubic meters of water have been channeled to the marshes and it is still flowing from the Nyugati irrigation canal. Without this, the entire area would be completely dry by now.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
