Földrajzi Közlemények

THE IMPACT OF DROUGHT ON MOROCCAN AGRICULTURE – ADAPTATION OPTIONS BASED ON POLICY MAKERS' INTENTIONS AND FARMERS' EXPERIENCES

Judit Pappné Vancsó — 2025-09-20

Morocco is already experiencing the serious impacts of climate change, with droughts expected to become more frequent and prolonged. These changes threaten agricultural sustainability, food security, trade balance, and farmers’ livelihoods. This study examined how drought currently affects agriculture, the challenges institutions face in promoting sustainable practices, and whether government plans and support align with farmers’ needs and knowledge. Findings from expert interviews and farmer surveys indicate that drought is the most pressing issue, and while training and financial aid are in place, they have yielded limited progress. High illiteracy, lack of participatory planning, and a disconnect between policy and farmers’ perspectives hinder effectiveness. Morocco’s export-driven agriculture often overlooks local realities, and reform is slow due to entrenched habits and resistance to change. A more inclusive, participatory approach that incorporates farmers’ input is crucial to creating sustainable and adaptive agricultural policies aligned with national priorities.

THE BRITISH MAPPING OF CENTRAL EUROPE, 1915-1919. (PART 2) B. C. WALLIS: THE AUTHOR OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL HANDBOOK AND ATLAS

Róbert Győri — 2025-09-20

This article is the second part of a paper which examines The Peoples of Austria-Hungary I geographical handbook and the accompanying Atlas of Austria-Hungary, published by Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division in 1919, its making and contents, and the involvement of Hungarian and British geographers in mapping and boundary making. The article shows that B. C. Wallis undertook to study Hungary’s nationalities and demography from 1915 as part of the 1:1M mapping project coordinated by Arthur Hinks in the Royal Geographical Society in London on behalf of the Geographical Section, General Staff and, later, for the Geographical Section (ID32) of the Naval Intelligence Division. Wallis was known in academic circles for his book on the teaching of geography and work in statistics, but he was not an expert on Hungary, and he joined the project to boost his scholarly career. In comparison with those Hungarian geographers involved in the peace preparations and who used that work to start their career, Wallis failed to establish himself as an academic geographer after the First World War. Britain won both the War and the peace, yet British geographers rued the missed opportunity to strengthen geography as a discipline in the immediate post-war period. Hungary lost the war and the peace, yet geography in Hungary was seen as a strategic discipline that could help the country both know itself and achieve the revision of the peace treaty.

GEOGRAPHY AND MEMORY IN THE CONTEXT OF EAST-CENTRAL EUROPEAN IDENTITY PRODUCTIONS

Barta Géza — 2025-09-20

This study examines the interconnections between collective memory, space, and identity in the context of Central and Eastern Europe, emphasizing human geography approaches. It outlines the theoretical foundations of social memory based on concepts by Halbwachs, Assmann, and Nora, while extending beyond these to explore memory’s relationships with places and spaces. A fundamental argument is that the interdisciplinary nature of memory studies allows for the integration of geographical perspectives, which have been underrepresented, particularly in Hungarian academia. The historical traumas of Central and Eastern Europe – including wars, forced migrations, and regime changes – are crucial in shaping memoryscapes and traumascapes, which are closely tied to social conflicts and collective identities. Consequently, memory narratives in the post-socialist region are often contentious, competing, and subject to continuous reinterpretation. Through various examples, the study investigates the geographical dimensions of memory, focusing on memoryscapes, traumascapes, and the political and social roles of memory. It highlights how memory-oriented communal actions in Eastern Europe possess a dynamic, often competitive identity-forming force, contrasting with Western European commemorative models that are more linear and ritual-based. The research contributes to the interdisciplinary discourse by emphasizing the importance of geographical approaches in understanding the spatial aspects of memory and identity. This perspective enriches the field of memory studies and provides new insights into the complex relationships between collective memory, space, and identity in the context of Central and Eastern Europe.

CHANGES IN THE STATUS OF GEOGRAPHY IN HUNGARY IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF HUNGARIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

Péter Szilassi — 2025-09-20

The analysis examines how the professional focus of geography in Hungary has changed over the past 120 years. It also aims to show how the taxonomic role of geography and its position in the interdisciplinary field have changed. The above issues can be assessed from several perspectives (e.g. human, infrastructural, economic or professional content), but in this paper we will only attempt a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the professional content (subjects) of the publications in the Geographical Review of Hungarian Geographical Society. We believe that a content analysis of the 1700 or so papers published in Geographical Review of Hungarian Geographical Society between 1900 and 2020 will give us an idea of when and how the main research topics of the publications changed, and to what extent, and how they are in line with national and international trends.