Synergies in agriculture and nature conservation through hydrological restoration of ecologically valuable and cultivated wetlands in the drought-prone Hungarian Plain

The establishment of a sustainable land use system integrating the mitigation capacity of wetlands is crucial in the plains of the temperate zone. Following the approaches of green infrastructure development programs and the spatial planning framework, two zones with potential for wetland conservation and restoration were selected in the Hungarian Plain (Central and Eastern Europe) covering an estimated 21% of the landscape. Then, linking hydrological and ecosystem modelling tools, we estimated the groundwater recharge that would result from a hydrological restoration and its impact on surrounding maize fields with different groundwater levels and soil conditions. The amount of groundwater recharge ranged between 367 m³ ha^-1 and 552 m³ ha^-1; thus, the horizontal impact of the hydrological restoration as indicated by the ratio of the extension of the groundwater impact area and surface water in the May–August period, would be almost 2:1.

Croplands in transition zones between high terraces and wetlands may reap the greatest benefit from the hydrological restoration of wetlands due to its edge effect, which results in more balanced year-to-year yields on fine-grained soils. This is what has led to an estimated 20%–28% increase in maize yields in such zones. The results of the investigation confirm the hypothesis that the hydrological restoration of wetlands may effectively mitigate increasing climate risk in drought vulnerable plains. These findings, complemented by the abundance of other services (e.g., flood regulation) provided by restored wetlands shed light on the intersectoral prospects of the hydrological restoration of wetlands in Europe.