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Over-exploitation of water resources, water regime modifications, water contamination, and a growing number of flood events – negative effects of which are amplified by climate change – are all issues that require harmonised, integrated actions from management authorities in countries that share river basins.

Integrated land development is a key of sustainable resource management and should be tested in a pilot project in Hungary. The outcomes of the project will also be disseminated in Serbia and Romania and should give the principle of integrated land development a boost in the Tisza River Basin.

Projects should have a clear impact on the livelihood of local people - this is especially true for the UNDP/GEF project “Integrating multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains into improved trans-boundary management for the Tisza River Basin”. This pilot project is currently carried out on the Upper Tisza, in a village literally divided by the Tisza into two countries.

The Bodrog River Basin makes part of the Tisza River Basin and is shared by Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. Environmental problems and flood damages are increasing and putting pressures on the people - high time for a project of the UNDP / GEF to promote multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains.

The Tisza Basin has been subject to significant anthropogenic impacts that have resulted in a degraded system, particularly in terms of pollution and the loss of floodplains and wetlands. The present project is focusing on the development of strategies and implementation of demo project to test the multiple environmental benefits of wetlands to mitigate impacts of floods/droughts and help to reduce nutrient pollution.

At the first ministerial meeting of the ICPDR countries held in December 2004, ministers and high-level representatives of the five Tisza countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding, establishing the ICPDR Tisza Group for coordination as well as implementation of an international integrated Tisza River Basin cooperation under the umbrella of the ICPDR. After 15 years of successful cooperation the ICPDR Tisza Group will focus on the implementation of the updated ITRBMP.

Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary share the responsibility for the Tisza river basin and undertook jointly activities towards the implementation of the EU Water Freamwork Directive and the EU Flood Directive. These efforts were supported by the European Union in the frame of the TISAR 2007 and led to good results.

The investigation of the Tisza River was a follow-up project of the Joint Danube Survey 2001 organised by the ICPDR. The objective of the survey was to investigate the water quality along the river and to promote public awareness. The countries participating at the survey include Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro.

Hungary as a landlocked country is situated within the heart of the Danube Basin. The entire territory (93,030 km2) is found in the Basin. Rivers enter the country from the west, north and east and flow towards the south. Almost one fifth of the 9,8 million inhabitants live in the capital, Budapest - the City of Spas – which lies on the banks of the Danube. Lake Balaton in the west, the largest lake of the Danube Basin, is a recreational area for the country. Hungary became a Signatory Party to the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) in 1994 and joined the EU in 2004.

Covering an area of 157,186 km², the Tisza River Basin is the largest sub-basin of the Danube River Basin. The Tisza River is the longest tributary of the Danube (966 km), and second largest in terms of flow after the Sava. The countries of the Tisza Basin (Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia) agreed to close transboundary co-operation, aiming to achieve integrated water resources management of the Basin.