ABSTRACT
Problems of environmental protection in Hungary have arisen out of economic development which accelerated after 1867. Regulation of the Tisza opened the way for the intensive cultivation of 3.4mln.ha of agricultural land, linked with the growth of the food-processing industry, which included distilleries as well as meat and sugar factories, especially in the Budapest area. There was also an expansion of mining and metallurgy, although most capacity was located in the outer regions of the Carpathian Basin which were lost after the end of the First World War. The inter-war years saw greater use of the coal resources within the limits of Trianon Hungary, following the southwest–northeast axis of the country, and the industrial centres based on coal-mining, energy production, aluminium and chemicals grew even more rapidly under communism: Miskolc, Ózd and Salgótarján in the north, along with Ajka, Almásfüzitõ, Balatonfüzfõ, Dorog, Pét, Szony and Tatabánya in Central Transdanubia. Since industry also expanded in the Budapest agglomeration and around Gyõr, the northern half of the country began to suffer from pollution (Figure 8.1).
