Balaton: When will the state protect the lake? 🌊

For residents around Lake Balaton and communities connected to the lake, the question of how long the current pace of development can be sustained without permanently disrupting the lake's ecological balance is becoming increasingly urgent. The effects of climate change – including extreme water level fluctuations – are already being felt in lakeside settlements, where the disappearance of natural reed beds and shoreline sections makes it increasingly difficult to cope with summer algal blooms or mosquito invasions.

Environmental lawyer Katalin Sulyok believes that the state has a constitutional duty to protect Lake Balaton, and several legal tools are available for this purpose. Expropriation, for example, could allow natural values and the interests of future generations to prevail over private investments. The expert emphasizes: private interests and environmental public interests are increasingly becoming a zero-sum game, especially in the Balaton region.

One of the latest examples of the issue taken up by the SOS Balaton initiative is the residential park being built at the mouth of the Pogányvölgyi-víz in Fonyód. This area has so far functioned as one of the lake's last natural "gates," but the development further narrows the remaining green corridors. Local residents and conservationists fear that the lake will thus be less and less able to withstand the challenges of climate change.

The future of Lake Balaton is therefore not only a legal but clearly also a political question. As Katalin Sulyok puts it, the necessary tools are available – only the will is missing to use them for the benefit of the lake and the communities living around it. 🌊

Source: hvg.hu