The severe water scarcity affecting Hungary’s Danube–Tisza Interfluve is at the centre of a new three-part documentary series produced by WWF Hungary within the MOSAIC project. The first episode, released in September 2026, features Prof. Judit Mádl-Szőnyi, coordinator of the ClimEx-PE project, alongside researchers, conservation experts, farmers and local stakeholders.
The documentary explores how the Homokhátság (Sand Ridge) has changed over recent decades and why its drying cannot be attributed to climate change alone. It presents a combination of interacting pressures, including declining and increasingly uneven precipitation, rising temperatures, historical drainage, land-use change, afforestation and groundwater abstraction.
In the film, Judit Mádl-Szőnyi highlights the importance of understanding the region through its groundwater system. Groundwater processes are slow, and the consequences of interventions in the landscape may unfold over decades. The extensive drainage network built during the twentieth century, originally designed to remove excess water and make more land available for agriculture, has fundamentally altered the hydrological functioning of the landscape.
This perspective is directly connected to the research carried out within ClimEx-PE. The Danube–Tisza Interfluve is the project’s Hungarian case study area, where the Nature-Based Managed Aquifer Recharge (NaBa-MAR®) concept introduced within ClimEx-PE is being developed. The concept builds on an understanding of regional groundwater flow systems and explores how targeted groundwater recharge and water retention can be designed in accordance with the natural functioning of the subsurface. The aim is to move beyond simply supplying additional water and towards solutions that help retain and redistribute water within the landscape and subsurface, thereby strengthening resilience to hydroclimatic extremes.
The documentary also demonstrates why there is no single solution to the drying of the Homokhátság. The region faces a substantial accumulated water deficit, while water continues to leave the system through several pathways. Addressing this challenge therefore requires coordinated water retention, changes in water and land management, and dialogue among water managers, farmers, conservationists, researchers, decision-makers and local communities.
Beyond its scientific relevance, the documentary brings the groundwater dimension of climate adaptation to a broad public audience. The first episode had already reached more than 144,000 views on YouTube by 25 September 2026, demonstrating strong public interest in the future of one of Hungary’s most climate-vulnerable landscapes.
The three-part documentary series was produced by WWF Hungary within the MOSAIC project, based on footage and interviews recorded between 2023 and 2026.
The documentary is in Hungarian. Watch the first episode on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qynv73t_DA