Integrating hydrology, land use and socioeconomics in supporting spatial planning for the Tisza basin

In the Tisza basin anthropogenic interventions affect land use, water use, and ecosystems and may compromise the development potential of the whole catchment area. The area faces complex challenges of economic, social, and environmental character, which need transnational cooperation for sustainable solutions. Until present, various models could be applied to support the development of the different aspects of this plan, but no model has yet been developed that is able to simulate the interaction between the range of crosssectoral processes under consideration. This paper will present an integrated spatial decision support system that was developed to support strategic integrated planning in the Tisza basin. It includes two widely-applied models: the MIKE SHE model for simulating hydrological processes and the Metronamica model for simulating land use change processes. Main drivers incorporated are climate change and socio-economic developments. By integrating both models into a Spatial Decision Support System, decisions on water resource management and spatial planning can be made in an integrated fashion; facilitating analyses of trade-offs and uncovering win-win situations. To be able to tailor the system to the specifics of the Tisza basin, the characteristics of the various countries included in the basin needed to be investigated and the underlying models needed to be tuned and in some cases enhanced to meet the specific requirements of its users. In the presentation we will focus on the integration between the models, the application of two generic models to meet the location-specific conditions and requirements, and the translation of scientific output from the models into information relevant for the socio-economic and political context of the decision makers.