Considering the fact that urbanization is one of the most serious threats to geodiversity, it is important that this issue is taken into account in spatial development plans and georesource management strategies in urban areas. This paper presents the application of a geodiversity evaluation method by using the geodiversity index, based on the quantity of abiotic elements and relief roughness within a spatial unit. Geodiversity assessment, usually used for remote, protected and sparsely populated natural areas, is now carried out in an urban environment-the city of Belgrade, capital of Serbia, with a population of about 1.7 million inhabitants and very strong urbanization in the last few decades. The area of 3227 km 2 is processed with the spatial resolution of 1 x 1 km. The acquired results from the geodiversity index are analyzed in the context of sustainable use of georesources and the threats to which geodiversity is exposed due to the territorial expansion of the city. The mapping of specific categories of geodiversity on the basis of quantitative assessment with the use of Geographic Information Systems can help decision makers and managers to take further steps that would reduce threats and protect the natural value of Belgrade.

Ecotourism can be defined as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and cultural heritage and improves the well-being of local people. Sustainable planning and management of ecotourism development are important and necessary for increasing positive and decreasing negative effects on the complex environment. This paper analyses the suitability of selected protected natural areas in the Serbian Danube region for the purposes of ecotourism development. The multi-criteria analysis includes several natural and socio-economic factors and criteria which influence ecotourism development. The integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) greatly facilitates the decision-making process in the ecotourism destination planning. A suitability map of the analysed protected natural areas for ecotourism development as one of the sustainable tourism types is highlighted as a result of this paper. Such analysis assists in the objective promotion of ecotourism destinations and thus contributes to the improvement of Serbian tourism development. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 176008]

The paper represents project results of a multi-year long research on the problem of refugees. First, we started from the fact that although the number of refugees in Serbia is decreasing, their social status has been bad for years and the qualitative changes are slow. We tried to answer the question relating to the changes in number and quality of collective centres. Secondly, we analyzed the relationship between refugees and domestic population. We confirmed the hypothesis that refugees from Croatia and Bosnia after years of living in Serbia hope to integrate their community into the host society. Thirdly, there is no doubt that repatriation in Croatia and Bosnia is the most acceptable solution for the majority of refugees, but it is not the realistic solution due to security issues, property security and full-time employment in the places of their origin.

Geotourism is a relatively new form of tourism with considerable European and global growth potential. Interest in geotourism is developing at a very rapid rate around the world. It is of great importance to support and enhance the global movement about geotourism generally and specifically into geoparks. Geoparks are different to other forms of protected areas, such as national parks, nature reserves etc. In this paper focus of the research is on quantitative assessments of the exceptional values of geoheritage for the science, education and tourism potential use in the area of the potential Geopark Djerdap. Five selected geosites are relevant to evaluate key values for science, education, and tourism with additional consideration given to degradation risk. All the post-assessment findings aim to improve the focus on the ultimate goal of the study, i.e. to justify the synergy between the protection of natural values (geoconservation) and the corresponding activities in the process of managing the development of geotourism in the study area.

This paper examines land use changes on the territory of Stara Pazova municipality with an aim to describe the evolution of these changes and future trend. Lack of the reliable data about history of land use changes, which is one of the main problems in the similar researches in Serbia, was solved by using CORINE (Coordination of information on the environment) land cover database. The collected information and GIS analysis conducted under created geodatabase enable insight in spatial and temporal dimensions of these changes, identification of change types and assessment of their intensities. The obtained results indicate that trends of land use changes for the period 1990-2000 and 2000-2012 are very similar and point to tendency of agriculture land reduction and increasing of residential and industrial zones.