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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 WILD island' 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.

U radu je analizirana klasifikacija zemljišta Bačke na osnovu morfološko-genetskog kriterijuma. Klasifikacija pedološkog pokrivača Bačke obuhvata tri reda i deset klasa: a) automorfni, b) hidromorfni i v) halomorfni red zemljišta. U automorfnom redu zemljišta černozem predstavlja najdominantniji tip zemljišta (94,5%), zatim ritska smonica (2,67%) i rigosoli (1,26%). Černozem je u Bačkoj formiran na lesnim zaravnima, lesnim i aluvijalnim terasama. Hidromorfni red zemljišta je predstavljen livadskim crnicama (66,9%), aluvijalnim zemljištima (19,1%) i ritskim crnicama (13,1%). Livadske crnice u Bačkoj zauzimaju aluvijalne ravni autohtonih bačkih reka i odlikuje ih znatan broj podtipova. U halomorfnom redu zemljišta solončaci imaju dominantno učešće (57,7%), solonjeci (32,1%) i solođi (svega 10,1%). Njihov areal distribucije u Bačkoj obuhvata fosilne rečne i lesne terase. Povoljna struktura i distribucija plodnih tipova zemljišta omogućava planiranje održive poljoprivredne proizvodnje u Bačkoj.

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.

Recent climate changes cause significant natural and socio-economic consequences. They represent one of the major environmental problems of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Changes in temperature and precipitation play a significant role in understanding climate change issues. They include numerous extreme climatic events such as heat waves, droughts, forest fires and more. Looking at regional differences in temperature and precipitation regime change, Southern Europe, including the Republic of Serbia, occupies a special place. The Mačva district (3.272 km²) is almost four times as spacious as the Mačva area. The administrative-political division of the Mačva district is comprised of eight municipalities. The paper presents trends of two climate variables: mean annual air temperature and mean annual precipitation in the study area. In methodological sense, the main statistical procedure is the non-parametric Mann-Kendall (MK) test. Data from three available meteorological stations in the Mačva district (1949-2015) were used for the analysis. The presented results of the trends in air temperature indicate that there is a statistically significant positive trend in all-time series. In trends, precipitation amounts a statistically significant positive trend was observed in two time series, while in one there is no trend. The expressed trends, especially in the case of air temperatures, lead to the possibility of drought. Mačva district and Mačva have some agricultural importance in the Republic of Serbia. For these reasons, some adaptation to climate change is needed as arid conditions lead to fluctuations in agricultural yield.

For understanding hydroclimatological process chain it is crucial to identify relations between large-scale 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.

Evaluative function of the final exam provides insight into the educational achievements of students and assessment of the degree of achievement of general and specific standards of achievement. When analyzing the results of students per school year (2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017) it is clear that in last two year, pupils approach to combined test, and geography questions has got more serious. The clear positive trend on total achieved percentage is noticed (y=4.9x+39.5). Same trend is noticed when results of each individual questions are analyzed. Even though our results show that boys achieved better results than girls, which is in contrast with state average, independent sample T-test results has shown that there is no statistically significant difference between results acquired by boys and girls. Although the final exam and the success of the elementary school are characterized by certain shortcomings, it is a good thing that they jointly contribute to the enrollment of students in high school because they compensate for their mutual shortcomings. However, it is important to make efforts to improve the quality of the assessment and the final exam, so that the education system is more equitable than it is currently.

Due to excessive pollution, Veliki bački Canal (VBC) was turned into an open collection system for wastewater from food industry, farms and settlements. This lead to classification of the canal as a pollution "black spot" in Danube basin. As there is high percentage of residents living alongside the canal, VBC could represent potential health risk. In order to conduct an environmental assessment of the region, local residents' attitudes are being investigated through questionnaire in ten settlements (500 respondents). The results are indicating that local residents perceive the canal as extremely polluted, mainly due to industry and its by-products. Respondents claim that current state of the canal could have harmful effects to their health, as there are frequent reports of oil spills, dead fish and odor. Extremely negative attitude is reported among the residents of Vrbas, where the most is polluted section of the canal. Questionnaire reveals that most of the respondents are willing to participate in actions of cleaning VBC, which indicates high environmental awareness.

This paper examines temporal and spatial variability and trends of annual and seasonal precipitation in Slovenia and their relationship with three atmospheric circulation patterns represented by their indices: North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAOi), Mediterranean Oscillation index (MOi) andWestern Mediterranean Oscillation index (WeMOi). Data from 45 precipitation stations were used for the period 1963–2012.Mean annual precipitation varies from 736 mm in eastern Slovenia to 2,518 mm in northwestern Slovenia. A significant annual precipitation decrease (from −3% to −6% per decade) is observed in western Slovenia. Significant negative trends are observed in southwestern Slovenia in summer (from −4% to −10% per decade) and near the Adriatic coast in spring (from −6% to −10% per decade). Non-significant negative and positive trends are observed in winter and autumn, respectively. Results indicate significant correlations between winter precipitation and MOi (from −0.3 to −0.7), NAOi (from −0.3 to −0.6) andWeMOi (from 0.3 to 0.6). Significant We-MOi influence is observed in spring and autumn, while NAOi and MOi influence has not been detected. Annual precipitation and WeMOi are significantly correlated in central and eastern Slovenia, while significant NAOi and MOi influence is observed in western Slovenia (with the larger area covered by MOi influence).

The WQI method is most frequently used in expert and scientific research and basically it provides a mechanism for cumulative representation, numeric expression and defining a certain level of water quality. This paper aims to assess water quality of the Tisa River in Vojvodina (North Serbia) for the 2003 - 2012 period. Serbian Water Quality Index (SWQI) was used for assessment of the river water quality. WQI is expressed as a single value ranging from 0 to 100 (best quality) derived from numerous physical, chemical, biological and microbiological parameters. The results of SWQI for the Tisa River were mainly rated as good. Also, in this study it is noticed a clear decrease in water quality during warmer period of the year. Also, this study shows that water quality along the Tisa River decreases slightly but steadily down- stream, from Martonoš to Titel station and all along the length of the river provides values that according to SWQI descriptive quality indicator has been defined as good (72-83). The main problem of SWQI used in this paper is that it does not involve parameters of heavy metals concentration.

Veliki bački kanal is one of the most polluted watercourses in Serbia and it is frequently the central topic of the analysis of huge ecological issues in Serbia. It was dug at the turn of the 19th century with the main purpose to drain the wetland areas in central Bačka and to enhance economic growth of the settlements that had been colonized several times during the 18th century. Although it is being studied mostly from environment protection perspective at present, it has been changing the features of the landscape and the environment in this area. The issue of intensive pollution, predominantly from food industry, has been increasing since the second half of the 20th century. This type of pollution completely diminished the canal functions planned by the project designers. Current and future canal functions are: drainage and flood protection, irrigation, water supply, wastewater recipient, canal traffic, fish farming, tourism (recreation) and nature protection. Remediation is crucial and fundamental prerequisite for sustainable use or Veliki bački kanal resources.

According to different relevant climate research water shortage hazard become increasingly frequent natural hazard across Serbia. In Serbia, especially in Vojvodina, drought is a natural hazard with increasing frequency of occurrence. Vojvodina is predominantly agricultural area with 11% of agricultural population. As such agricultural population is highly sensitive to natural hazards, especially to occurrence of drought which is typical for the territory of Vojvodina. Drought has influence on the environment and human activities, i.e. it has social and economic consequences, such as drinking water shortage or decline in crop yield. Therefore this paper has several aims. First goal is to explore socio demographic profiles and agricultural characteristic of agricultural population and stakeholders in research area. Secondly to examine farmers' attitudes to possible damage prevention and adaptive measures to climate change in the sector of agricultural production. Third goal is to analyze respondent's opinion toward drought prediction. Finally the study examines opinion of respondents on the role of government institutions in providing assistance and support to farmers and to agricultural development in the region. In depth semi structural interviewing were carried out. Results show lack of knowledge among respondents that water shortage can be precisely and in time predicted to help agriculture prepare and prevent possible draft damages. As the main problems in agriculture, the local agricultural population lists absence of strategic planning and management of agrarian policy, as well as absence of state support to farmers in agriculture development. Necessary assistance for alleviation of adverse drought consequences includes subsidies for irrigation, improvement and reconstruction of the existing irrigation systems; organized and planned state management of agrarian policy; creating precise methods of forecast of drought periods and timely informing agricultural population and agricultural firms.

Water shortage and drought, as the most important hydro-climatic hazards, cause significant damages in case of most continents including SE Europe. An experimental field established in Bačka region (Vojvodina Autonomous Province, North Serbia) for the purpose of droughts/water shortage monitoring and remote sensing under ongoing IPA project 'Water shortage hazard and adaptive water management strategies in the Hungarian-Serbian cross-border region' (WAHASTRAT). The main objective of this project is to determine water shortage con­flicts on a local and regional level, and to reveal the frequency, extent and severity of future hydro-cli­matic hazards. The locations of eight measurement stations selected on the principle of representativeness in term of terrain configuration and soil cover. An area in which measurement stations were placed, covers about 1000 km2 (12% of total area of Bačka) and includes geomorphic units which reliable represent the relief of the whole Bačka region. Measurement stations were placed on 4 out of 5 most common soil types in the Bačka and Vojvodina: chernozem, alluvial soils, smonitza and saline and alkali soils. A measurement equipment system was constructed for the requirements of the WAHASTRAT project. The aim was to design a user-friendly and affordable IT solution, which would enable continuous re­mote monitoring of meteorological parameters and soil moisture. Independent solar-powered meas­urement stations are able to automatically measure air temperature, air humidity, wind speed, wind di­rection, precipitation and soil moisture.

A large number of civil war refugees migrated to Vojvodina in the period 1991-1996. Each of nine immigration municipalities received over 10,000 refugees. This article will try to prove that refugees changed age structure of these municipalities in the negative sense. Demographic indicators such as median age and age index are higher and unfavorable in municipalities which received the largest number of refugees than in non-immigration municipalities which received the smallest number. The most unfavorable indicators due to the arrival of refugees has Sombor municipality and the best indicators has Stara Pazova municipality. In period 1991-2002. Immigrating municipalities shows higher ageing of population then non-immigrating.

The river Danube belongs to the Black Sea basin and it flows through ten European countries. It also flows through 35 larger cities including Novi Sad in Serbia. The water quality of the Danube is one of significant factors that are taken into consideration in evaluation of sustainability of the development of this region and it is controlled by complex anthropogenic activities and natural factors. With the assistance of correlation analysis, the paper studied the impact of natural factors such as water temperature, air temperature and precipitation rate on certain parameters indicating the water quality. Based on the results of the study it has been determined that natural factors affect changes in water quality throughout the year and that water temperature affects most the concentration of nitrogen oxide.

A Water Quality Index (WQI) is a numeric expression used to evaluate the quality of water bodies and make it easier understood by managers. This paper aims to assess water quality of Sava River in Vojvo­dina (North Serbia) for the 2004 - 2011 period. For this purpose authors applied: Serbian Water Qual­ity Index (SWQI) assessment. WQI value is dimensionless, single number ranging from 0 to 100 (best quality) derived from numerous physical, chemical, biological and microbiological parameters. For the Sava River SWQI was mainly rated as very good. This study shows a clear decrease in water quality dur­ing warmer periods of the year. Additionally, this study shows that water quality along Sava River de­creases slightly downstream, of Sremska Mitrovica station but it still provides values that according to SWQI descriptive quality indicator have been defined as good (72-83) and very good (84 - 89). Also, this study shows an increase of SWQI downstream of the confluence of Drina River into Sava River. This methodology includes parameters for assessment of organic loading, but does not involve parameters of heavy metals concentration.

Conference industry brings significant economic effects and that is one of the reasons why many destinations around the world strive to organize conferences, especially the international ones, which make bigger economic effects. According to the Strategy of tourism development of the Republic of Serbia (2005-2015), city break and business tourism are tourism products of high priority, which can provide short-term positioning of Novi Sad and Belgrade, at the first place, at the international tourism market, and contribute to the growth of tourism turnover of foreign travellers.Belgrade is the capital and the largest city in Serbia. It is very well equipped with necessary infrastructure for organizing business events such as conferences, congresses, meetings etc. Lately, the number of international business events in Serbia is increasing and the majority of those events are organized in Belgrade. However, there are very few surveys which are examining satisfaction of the conference attendees in Serbia. This topic is often ignored despite the fact that the attendees satisfaction is substantial for organizers and all other relevant stakeholders at host destination. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the satisfaction of the conference attendees, as they are final consumers of conference tourist product and their experience regarding both conference and host destination is thus essential to destination marketing and management organizations, conference centres, hotel managers, meeting planners and all other stakeholders involved in conference industry and tourism

The focus of this research is Special nature reserve Carska bara that is situated in the area of central Banat (Vojvodina, Serbia). The whole territory of the Reserve and the surrounding area represents space that has been under the influence of human activities since the very beginning of the development of human communities. Another great influence comes from the process of melioration of the whole area and mainly of the river Begej, which consequently results in changes in sediments and their quality. Sediment has a strong influence on numerous goals and functions of protection. It changes the characteristics of the landscape and ecosystems. That is why the process of sediment remediation, through the process of demudding, is of crucial importance for the protection of this area and its natural values. Remediation influences some important aims of managing the area such as nature protection, education and tourism.

Border region of Northern Banat consists of three Banat municipalities. These municipalities are bordering with Romania and they occupy the ultimate eastern, peripheral position in Serbia. The number of inhabitants in border municipalities shows the declining tendency and a high unemployment rate is one of the causes of constant decline in the number of inhabitants. Halting of emigration process from the territories of border municipalities would contribute to stabilization of their demographic status. This type of migratory processes can be efficiently affected through timely professional orientation. The problem of unemployment in the territories of border municipalities of Northern Banat could be regulated primarily with elaboration of a long-term plan. The results of the research, which was conducted in the period from January 2007 to December 2009, show that the number of unemployed persons was reduced in all border municipalities of Northern Banat at the end of the observed period compared to the beginning of 2007. Municipality of Coka has the largest percentage of unemployed persons in the total number of working-age population. Older categories with lower level of education dominate in the structure of unemployed persons.

This study aims to investigate how national parks, identified as remarkable and, therefore, worthy of the trip, are visited and experienced. The main objective of this study was to explore the influence of memorable tourism experiences on environmentally responsible behavior, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions as its outcome. By giving an account of how national parks may be experienced by nature-based tourists, its main focus is on the concept of memorable nature-based tourist experience (MNBTE). The data for this research were collected through a survey from tourists visiting national parks in Serbia. The results demonstrate the significance of MNBTE as an important relationship mediator. The study's key contributions are the extension of the memorable tourism experience construct and the inclusion of tourist satisfaction, intention to revisit, recommend, share the experience, and the environmental responsibility of tourists. Practical implications and potential future research approaches are also highlighted in the conclusion. [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]

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]

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]