Debrecen4U October 28, 2025

There is great interest in Debrecen’s unique Environmental Monitoring System

The unique Environmental Monitoring System is available to the people of Debrecen with 18 monitoring bases, and anyone can find out more on its website.

The Green Guard (Zöld Őrszem) was a highlight of the European Green Capital competition, where Debrecen finished in the TOP3.

As part of the Green Codex, the environmental strategy presented by the University of Debrecen and the local government last January, a new monitoring program was introduced.

In May of this year, the Environmental Monitoring System was presented, with members of the city council participating. The Green Guard experts invited all municipal representatives to a presentation of the measuring stations.

In collaboration with university staff, 16 complexes (in Debrecen and Mikepércs) and 2 water monitoring bases operate 24 hours a day and send in data.

Since then, “Citizen Science” programs have been organized to introduce the processes. So far, more than 500 students have been introduced to the operation of the Green Guard in a playful way.

The children were able to learn primarily about the living world, but they were also able to find out how data collection takes place, what measuring instruments the system uses, and how the environment is examined.

Transparency plays a key role in the Debrecen Environmental Monitoring System, which is why the people of Debrecen can participate in the so-called Citizen Science programs. The interest of the city residents is also shown by the fact that the number of visits to the Green Guard website is constantly increasing.

“We always communicate and gladly demonstrate at our events and to residents how useful it can be for residents, civilians, as well as for professionals at universities, nuclear research institutes, and decision-makers to be able to continuously track and monitor the state of our environment in Debrecen and its immediate surroundings,” János Géber, professional manager of Debrecen KER Nonprofit Kft., operator of the Green Guard system, told Médiacentrum Debrecen.

Debrecen applied for the title of European Green Capital and made it into the top three in the international competition. Debrecen was described in the competition as being at the forefront of sustainability and achieving the best result among the finalists competing for the title of European Green Capital in 2027.

Péter Nagy, the chairman of the Scientific and Social Advisory Board of the Gróf Tisza István Foundation for the University of Debrecen, spoke a few days ago about the fact that Debrecen pays special attention to protecting the city’s environment, in addition to the extremely dynamically developing economic investments.

“Today, we can say that 16 complex measuring stations operate in the city of Debrecen, which take care of the cleanliness of the water, air, and soil and monitor the cleanliness and health of the environment with the most modern infrastructure and IT platform, and also inform the population,” said Péter Nagy.

Experts from the University of Debrecen and the HUN-REN Nuclear Research Institute gave a presentation to civil organizations at the Green Watch complex measuring station number 14 in Mikepércs.

According to the report published on the Green Guard website, Prof. Dr. László Stündl and Prof. dr. Sándor Kéki, from the University of Debrecen and the Green Guard Air Working Group, presented the main elements of the system, its operation, and the methodology of online and physical measurements. On behalf of the HUN-REN Nuclear Research Institute, which has about 30 years of experience in air quality testing, Director Dr. Zsolt Dombrádi and Senior Research Fellow Dr. Zsófia Kertész—who provided comprehensive information to the audience based on decades of scientific experience—presented the instrument park, highlighting the accuracy of the instruments, the accuracy of calibrated instruments, data validation, continuous sampling, processing, and information.

During the Citizen Science presentation, Vice President Tibor Nemes and Edina Tímár from the Mikepércsi Mothers for the Environment Association (MIAKÖ) and Gergő Papp from the Zöld Szentgyörgy Association were able to learn about the instrumentation, the data recording based on online and physical sampling, and the methodology and process of data processing and were convinced of the transparency regarding the availability of data and of the authentic information of the system.

MIAKÖ did not consent to photos or videos being taken during this tour. The organization stated on its social media page, “We welcome the fact that civil organizations are also involved in learning about the system, but at the same time we consider it important to emphasize that real environmental protection cannot be a communication tool but is based on the publicity of data and the protection of the landscape.”

The measuring station continuously measures, among other things, the quality and condition of air, soil, and water. There are such stations, for example, in the Northwest and Southern Economic Zones, in Mikepércs, and at several points in the city. Data from all measuring points is available on the Green Guard website.

Source:dehir.hu | Photo credit: Facebook Barcsa Lajos