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Tourism development, if not sustainable, could threat and affect the environment as an object of tourists' interest. Accordingly, hotels as a type of tourism organizations within a destination, are trying to involve sustainable business activities in their operations in order to protect the environment. In hotels within developed countries, sustainable activities are already implemented in the business and they are in the balance with the environment. However, implementation of these activities within societies in transition, such as Serbia, is still in initial level, which is confirmed in this research. The subject of this paper is, therefore, oriented toward the business activities of hotels located within Kopaonik, popular destination of winter tourism and National Park of Serbia, and these activities are researched through the employees' perspective of ecological, socio-cultural and economic principles of the hotel business. Methods used in the paper are: descriptive, comparative, statistical and the critical one. Also, a survey research was conducted for the purpose of the paper and it obtained a sample of 211 hotel employees. The research results explained the current state within the hotel business of Kopaonik related to activities focused on ecological, socio-cultural and economic principles of sustainable development. Also, results indicate the level of employees' job satisfaction and the level of their job commitment in accordance with hotels' involvement in sustainable practices. All researched constructs of the paper are interpreted as important aspects of Kopaonik's sustainability on the tourist market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rivers Danube, Sava and Tisa belong to the Black Sea river basin and they flow through many European countries, while in Serbia they flow through the Pannonian flatland. The water quality of these rivers, which is affected by complex anthropogenic activities and natural factors, is one of important factors that are taken into account in the evaluation of development sustainability of this region. Using the correlation analysis in this paper we tested the impact of air temperature as a natural factor on certain parameters indicating the water quality. A significant correlation was found between air temperature and total nitrogen oxides in the Danube of up to -0.744, namely of -0.740 on the Tisa, and -0.299 on the Sava. A significant correlation was found in electrical conductivity - up to -0.793 on the Danube, -0.226 on the Tisa, and 0.380 on the Sava. Correlation links were found between air temperature and oxygen, Biochemical oxygen demand, as well as suspended matters saturation percentage, but their correlation values are significantly lower. Based on the results of the research it was concluded that air temperature had low effect on changes in water quality during the year and that anthropogenic impact was far more dominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Drina River is the biggest tributary of the Sava River, created by the merger of the Tara and Piva rivers at Šćepan Polje. The Drina represents the border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Water quality index (WQI) is a numeric expression used to evaluate the quality of water bodies and make it more easily understood by managers. In this study, the water quality status and the spatial and temporal trends along the Drina were assessed through the application of seven WQI parameters, to an eight-year public database of environmental data (2004-11). Water quality of the Drina is one of the significant factors taken into consideration in evaluation of sustainability of the development of this region and it is controlled by complex anthropogenic activities and natural factors. Values of pH grew steadily from CP1 to CP3, but on CP4 values of pH were lower (8.11) than on two previous control points (CP2 8.14 and CP3 8.16). O2 saturation shows highest values at CP1 121.3%, while the lowest values were observed at CP3 101.8%. BOD5 at all four CPs shows that water quality of the Drina can be classified as I class (< 2 mg/l). According to statistical data processing we can state that Drina water quality at all four control points allows for its exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assessed aridity and humidity conditions in Bačka (north Serbia) in the period 1949–2018. The assessment was based on the analysis of air temperature and total precipitation from 5 meteorological stations. Spatio-temporal changes were determined based on aridity indices, statistical and interpolation procedures. The Mann–Kendall indicates no statistical significance in aridity trends at most stations. The annual value of the Lobova index indicates arid conditions. Monthly values of the De Martonne index (IDM) do not show a statistically significant positive or negative trend, except for May, September to December. The annual values of the IDM indicate diversity of aridity conditions with a statistically significant positive trend on annual level only at one station (Sombor). Dry and wet years are equally distributed based on Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI). The 2010 belongs to extremely wet category while the 2000 stands out as extremely dry. Statistically significant positive aridity trend was observed for RAI on annual level for two stations (Palić and Sombor). According to interpolation technique, annual and seasonal values of the IDM belong to humid and semi-humid conditions. The spatial variability of the RAI is between normal and slightly dry. The Lobova index shows different patterns of aridity. This study provides insight into the dynamics of aridity, and its results can be used in planning and implementing climate change adaptation measures. Since agricultural productivity is highly dependent on aridity and drought conditions, agricultural activities face numerous challenges. Therefore, the presented results can provide a solid basis for designing and implementing adaptation strategies and interventions on a regional scale in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change and aridity on agricultural production in the studied region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes towards environment are important for organizing nature protection, especially in countries undergoing political and economic transition. In this paper, attitudes of visitors, local communities and stakeholders towards the environment and nature protection are researched online and within the Special Nature Reserve and surroundings settlements. Data were obtained on the basis of the survey research as part of the 'LIFE WILDisland' project. Additionally, this paper was focused on comparing the attitudes of respondents between those who were in direct contact with nature and those who responded online. Gained results showed that respondents who were in direct contact with nature have more intensive interactions with it and have a good understanding of conservation-restoration measures. Both groups of respondents support nature protection activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy (CE) is a multidisciplinary approach focused on achieving the sustainability of the whole society. This review aims to reveal the potential impact of the circular economy on quality of life. This systematic review analyzes studies dealing with the concept of circular economy and quality of life. The methodology process included a keyword search and three selection steps. A total of 39 studies were included in the analysis. We define four topics that emerged from the literature review i) urban sustainable development; ii) waste management; iii) material production and iv) human well-being. All these topics emerged in the literature dealing with issues of circular economy and its impact on the quality of life. We assume that it is implied that every step towards circular economy contributes to the life quality, but there is an evident lack of studies that measure that impact. In Serbia, a small number of researchers were involved in this topic, although it represents one step towards the objective of improving the state of the environment. This review of the literature should serve as a starting point for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is a natural phenomenon that occurs when the availability of water is significantly below the normal levels during a shorter or longer period of time and cannot meet the necessary demand. This study focused on hydrological drought assessment of the Tisza River on four gauging stations: Vásárosnamény, Szolnok, Szeged, and Senta for the period 1964-2018. An effective Streamflow Drought Index (SDI) has been recently proposed and widely used for determining hydrological droughts. Both long- and short-term droughts have very severe impacts on the investigated locations. Two drought periods can be singled out: the first period was from 1983 to 1993, with the exceptions in 1985 and 1987. This period is characterized by higher absolute SDI values on Vásárosnamény (-0.84) and Szolnok (-0.87) than on Szeged (-0.29) and Senta (-0.40) stations. The second period was more severe and lasted from 2011 to 2015, with an average SDI value of -1.32 on Vásárosnamény, -1.08 on Szolnok, -0.53 on Szeged, and -0.57 on Senta station. The Mann-Kendall test results indicate that there is no trend indicating transition from humid towards more arid condition over the investigated period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For understanding hydroclimatological process chain it is crucial to identify relations between largescale climatic circulations and river discharge. The Danube is one of the most important European waterways, flowing 2.857 kilometers across the Europe and with 817.000 km2 basin. Danube River average and maximum discharges are correlated with eight atmospheric circulation patterns indices: AOi, EAi, EA/WRi, ENSOi, MOi, NAOi, SCANDi and WeMOi in 65 years period at the Bezdan gauging station in Serbia. Obtained results showed that precipitation, MOi and WeMOi have constant and dominant influences on Danube River average discharge at Bezdan gauging station, while maximum discharge is mainly influenced by precipitation and MOi. All registered correlations are positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts are natural hazards that endanger the safety of population, their property and can create serious agricultural and ecological problems over the affected region. An analysis of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was performed by using the database of sixty years (1956-2016) of the monthly precipitation for the nine meteorological stations in Vojvodina region (Serbia). The SPI has been used for drought determination. The present study investigates the application of k-means clustering methods on the SPI at the 12-month timescale values to detect distinct drought clusters. For the purpose of determining the optimal number of clusters, the Gap Statistics was used. The results show that the total of four clusters (regions) can be identified in Vojvodina: three stations are listed in region 1 (Sombor, Palić, and Novi Sad), two stations in region 2 (Bač and Sremska Mitrovica), region 3 is a single-station region (Bela Crkva), while in region 4, three stations are grouped (Kikinda, Zrenjanin, and Vršac). The Mann-Kendall test has shown that only in region 1 there is a trend in SPI values ranging from arid towards more humid conditions in the 1956-2016 period. In other regions no trend was observed in the data series. These results could contribute to water resources and agricultural planning and management in Vojvodina region and also confirm the usefulness of clustering methods for drought regionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, air temperature and precipitation seasonality and their correlation with large-scale atmospheric circulations over the Sava River Basin (SRB), i.e., over the areas of Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia, are analyzed. We used daily air temperature and precipitation measurements from 12 meteorological stations for the period from 1981 to 2010. In addition, mean (Ta), maximum (Tmax), and minimum (Tmin) daily temperatures and daily precipitation (P) were included in the analysis. Temperature values were correlated with atmospheric circulation patterns (ACPs), i.e., daily indices Arctic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Mediterranean Oscillation (MO) for the same study period. The daily air temperature and precipitation data were obtained from European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D). The results generally show increasing trends in air temperatures, mainly during the spring and summer seasons, but also non-significant trends for precipitation. Moreover, the correlation results show no or weak influence of ACPs on seasonal air temperatures and precipitation, but the dominant effects differ by ACP type as well as at different seasonal levels. Among the selected ACPs, MO proved to be the most significant for the Sava River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion assessment enables the identification of manifested soil erosion categories, their spatial distribution and the relationship between soil erosion and land use patterns. The integrated approach of the RUSLE method and GIS tools was used in estimating soil erosion rates in Bačka (Serbia). Previous research of soil erosion intensity in the study area was last performed 50 years ago. The spatial distribution of the calculated erosive factors shows the diversity of erosive conditions. The results indicate that the average annual soil loss is from 0 to 28.6 t ha-1 yr-1. The soil erosion is particularly pronounced in the area of the Titel loess plateau (up to 28.6 t ha-1 yr-1). The results indicate the diversity of the erosion rates depending on the land use. Multiple correlation indicates that the LS factor has the largest effect on erosion (correlation coefficient 1). The results in this paper can be used in planning future conservation measures, especially if the recent field measurements of soil erosion are added. This research is also important since the RUSLE method represents a new approach in determining the soil erosion intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Wood biomass in Serbia is traditionally used for energy. However, the manner of its use is outdated, and efficiency is very low. Annually over 3.5millionm3 of wood is cut down for energy needs in Serbia. In order to better exploit all forms of woody biomass, especially the one that is now treated as waste, and in order to fulfil the obligations from the outlined Convention on Climate Change it is necessary to switch to a modern way of production and utilization of woody biomass. Serbia is now at the very beginning of this process. This paper gives an overview and an analysis of the possibilities of utilization of wood waste as a renewable source of energy and the problems that producers in Serbia are facing due to undeveloped markets and excessive funds that are needed to start the production of briquettes and pellets. The ecological and economical advantages of using woody biomass, as well the possible support measures for the use of woody biomass in Serbia are also the topic of this paper. The present situation in this area, the manner of waste management in sawmills and the reasons for the necessity of future development of this industrial production are also briefly described. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]