Remote Sensing and Forest Conservation: Challenges of Illegal Logging in Kursumlija Municipality (Serbia)

Evidence convincingly shows that illegal and corrupt activities are the major underlying cause of deforestation—illegal logging contributes up to 30% of the global market, in excess of US $20 billion a year. Since so much deforestation is a result of illegal logging, we cannot rely on official production statistics to capture deforestation. Given the importance and complexity of forest preservation, an attempt was made to evaluate the possible use of a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in local forest management and prevention of illegal logging and corruption. We used the example of southern Serbian municipality Kursumlija that in the 2006–2011 periods experienced a 10% loss in forest area, as the obvious result of abrupt illegal logging. This process was very easy to locate and quantify (because illegal logging produced large canopy gaps that extend from the border of Kosovo to approximately 3–4 km into the Kursumlija\u27s territory). In short, NDVI is very promising for countries like Serbia (that rarely perform forest inventories): It is relatively cheap and quick, and it can provide forest managers with essential information; it is easy to implement; the objectivity of these methods can significantly help in avoiding corruption and illegal logging

The use of NDVI and CORINE Land Cover databases for forest management in Serbia

A normalized difference vegetation index provides local forest managers with much essential annual information about the forest inventory. This article evaluates the possible use of NDVI and CORINE Land Cover databases for better forest management in the municipalities of Kursumlija and Topola in Serbia. The forest areas obtained using CLC were up to 11.5% larger than the official forest area estimates, whereas NDVI gave more precise results. This is of a crucial importance for preventing illegal logging, which is very prevalent in southern Serbian municipalities, which have substantial forested territory. NDVI is very promising for Serbia and also for countries that rarely carry out national forest inventories. This method can also easily be applied to other Balkan countries with a similar situation regarding local forest management

Comparing NDVI and Corine Land Cover as Tools for Improving National Forest Inventory Updates and Preventing Illegal Logging in Serbia

National forest inventories (NFIs) in Serbia have been carried out very rarely (every 20 years), while the last two official estimates of forest areas (for 2011 and 2014) are very imprecise, because they are based on the cadastral data (and Serbia is well known for the lack of cadastre updating). Although forest conservation policymakers in Serbia still have limited financial, human, and political resources, over the past two decades, publicly available, remotely sensed satellite data on deforestation and degradation have dramatically reduced evaluation costs. Since municipalities in Southern Serbia experienced a 15% loss of forest area in the 2006–2014 period, as the obvious result of forceful, rapid process of illegal logging, this study evaluates the possible use of two remote sensing techniques: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and CORINE land cover (CLC) databases for preventing illegal logging in Serbia. It clearly shows that NDVI is very promising for Serbia and also for other post-socialist countries that very rarely carry out national forest inventories (NFIs), and where unrecorded, illegal logging can exceed the legal harvest by a factor of 10

Informacioni sistemi u planiranju i zaštiti prostora - Vizuelizacija geoprostornih elemenata

Svaka promena stanja elemenata životne sredine ima prostornu i vremensku dimenziju jer se događa na određenoj lokaciji i u određeno vreme. Stručnjaci koji se bave zaštitom životne sredine moraju imati saznanja gde i kada su obavljena posmatranja tih promena i šta je zabeleženo, kako bi to za njih imalo smisla i u cilju dobijanja zaključaka o ekološkim procesima. Na taj način se dolazi do dva tipa podataka koji su bitna odrednica informacionih sistema životne sredine: podaci o lokaciji i opisni podaci. Ovi podaci mogu biti obeleženi, klasifikovani i predstavljeni na različite načine u okviru samog informacionog sistema, kroz simulacione modele. Oni su razvijeni za podršku odlučivanju ili za planiranje u različitim segmentima životne sredine (procena uticaja na životnu sredinu, procena rizika, odlaganje opasnih i štetnih materija, odlaganje komunalnog i industrijskog otpada, pri izradi katastra izvora zagađenja životne sredine i dr.). Zadatak koji se postavio pred autore je da ukažu kakav je značaj kvalitetne vizuelizacije geoprostornih elemenata u GIS pilot projektima u planiranju i zaštiti prostora. Takođe, prikazaće se najčešći problemi kod topološkog modelovanja geoprostornih podataka. Primarni cilj koji je postavljen u radu je način na koji bi se tako osmišljen informacioni sistem, implementirao u planove i programe zaštite životne sredine

Informacioni sistemi u planiranju i zaštiti prostora - Vizuelizacija geoprostornih elemenata

Svaka promena stanja elemenata životne sredine ima prostornu i vremensku dimenziju jer se događa na određenoj lokaciji i u određeno vreme. Stručnjaci koji se bave zaštitom životne sredine moraju imati saznanja gde i kada su obavljena posmatranja tih promena i šta je zabeleženo, kako bi to za njih imalo smisla i u cilju dobijanja zaključaka o ekološkim procesima. Na taj način se dolazi do dva tipa podataka koji su bitna odrednica informacionih sistema životne sredine: podaci o lokaciji i opisni podaci. Ovi podaci mogu biti obeleženi, klasifikovani i predstavljeni na različite načine u okviru samog informacionog sistema, kroz simulacione modele. Oni su razvijeni za podršku odlučivanju ili za planiranje u različitim segmentima životne sredine (procena uticaja na životnu sredinu, procena rizika, odlaganje opasnih i štetnih materija, odlaganje komunalnog i industrijskog otpada, pri izradi katastra izvora zagađenja životne sredine i dr.). Zadatak koji se postavio pred autore je da ukažu kakav je značaj kvalitetne vizuelizacije geoprostornih elemenata u GIS pilot projektima u planiranju i zaštiti prostora. Takođe, prikazaće se najčešći problemi kod topološkog modelovanja geoprostornih podataka. Primarni cilj koji je postavljen u radu je način na koji bi se tako osmišljen informacioni sistem, implementirao u planove i programe zaštite životne sredine

Inventarizacija urbanih toplotnih ostrva multisppektralnom analizom

Vodene površine i vegetacija u urbanim zonama donose čitav niz prednosti, gde se smanjuje nivo zagađenja, omogućava se zasenčenje i prirodno hlađenje evapotranspiracijom. Takozvana urbana zeleno-plava zaštita, eliminiše troatomske čestice u vazduhu. Osnovni cilj ovog rada, jeste utvrđivanje uzročno-posledičnih veza između građevina, prateće infrastrukture, zelenila i vodnih tokova. Kada su te veze dobro uravnotežene, komfor stanovanja je na mnogo većem nivou. Multispektralnom analizom daljinskih snimaka, utvrđeni su uzročno-posledični odnosi izgrađene fizičke strukture (zgrade i infrastruktura) i raspodele sunčevog zračenja na životnu sredinu. Izvršena je procena nedostatka zelene vegetacije na nivou parcele, odnosno, stambenog bloka. Na ovaj način je moguće napraviti model koji će kvanifikovati evaporativni potecijal planirane listopadne vegetacije u zavisnosti od energije isparavanja lišća, što uključuje krošnje, smer vetra, vlagu, atmosferski pritisak, navodnjavanje biljaka i oblik fizičke strukture (parametre koji utiču na mikroklimu gradskog područja). Ovaj rad se odnosi na urbanu celinu neposredno uz rečni tok, koji je analiziran u opciji sa i bez uličnih drvoreda, odnosno zelenih fasada i krovova. Zaključeno je da urbano zelenilo redukuje temperaturu površinskog sloja zemljišta do 4,5 oC

The influence of solar activities on occurrence of the forest fires in south Europe

In mid-July 2012, hundreds of fires spread over forest stands in the south of Europe. Considering available satellite and meteorological data we have tried to determine a method using analogy, whether these fires were preceded by the intensified solar activity. The justification of this approach lies in the belief that it is impossible by direct or indirect activity of man to set fire at the same time to the sites that are geographically separated. In this paper we have tried to test the hypothesis claiming that charged particles coming to us from the Sun may be responsible for the number of forest fires. Unlike some other situations when the potential explanation could be a sudden influx of the protons of different energy ranges, in our study, there are electrons as carriers of the potential explanation. Many previous studies results have shown that there is statistically significant relationship between the processes on the Sun and certain movements of air masses in the atmosphere our planet. The presented results in this paper of the correlation relationships between the mean hourly flows of electrons and the mean hourly air temperatures in Belgrade and Rome and the analysis of the synoptic situation as a function of the suggested model so far, indicate that the number of fires that were occurring more than a week, from July 15, 2012, in the south of Europe, were caused by electrons coming from the Sun

Inventarizacija urbanih toplotnih ostrva multisppektralnom analizom

Vodene površine i vegetacija u urbanim zonama donose čitav niz prednosti, gde se smanjuje nivo zagađenja, omogućava se zasenčenje i prirodno hlađenje evapotranspiracijom. Takozvana urbana zeleno-plava zaštita, eliminiše troatomske čestice u vazduhu. Osnovni cilj ovog rada, jeste utvrđivanje uzročno-posledičnih veza između građevina, prateće infrastrukture, zelenila i vodnih tokova. Kada su te veze dobro uravnotežene, komfor stanovanja je na mnogo većem nivou. Multispektralnom analizom daljinskih snimaka, utvrđeni su uzročno-posledični odnosi izgrađene fizičke strukture (zgrade i infrastruktura) i raspodele sunčevog zračenja na životnu sredinu. Izvršena je procena nedostatka zelene vegetacije na nivou parcele, odnosno, stambenog bloka. Na ovaj način je moguće napraviti model koji će kvanifikovati evaporativni potecijal planirane listopadne vegetacije u zavisnosti od energije isparavanja lišća, što uključuje krošnje, smer vetra, vlagu, atmosferski pritisak, navodnjavanje biljaka i oblik fizičke strukture (parametre koji utiču na mikroklimu gradskog područja). Ovaj rad se odnosi na urbanu celinu neposredno uz rečni tok, koji je analiziran u opciji sa i bez uličnih drvoreda, odnosno zelenih fasada i krovova. Zaključeno je da urbano zelenilo redukuje temperaturu površinskog sloja zemljišta do 4,5 oC

Predicting of lead distribution and immobilization in soil of the region of lignite mining (Rudovci, Serbia)

Lead distribution and immobilization in cultivated soils in Rudovci, Serbia was investigated. Sampling was carried out by the method recommended by ICP-Forests Manual, 2006, Part III Sampling and analysis of Soil. The sampling geometry was systematically designed with a random component. The maximum sampling depth was 100 cm and lead distribution was monitored during 425 days. First sample was taken after 50 days and every single next sample was taken after 50 days except for the last sample which was taken after 25 days. Before the profile contamination, physical and chemical soil analysis has been done. The cation exchange capacity of the soil was done because media affect mobility cations (anions) in soil. The effect of immobilizations of Pb is highest in the second horizons where the depth of investigating soil is 25-50 cm

Predicting of lead distribution and immobilization in soil of the region of lignite mining (Rudovci, Serbia)

Lead distribution and immobilization in cultivated soils in Rudovci, Serbia was investigated. Sampling was carried out by the method recommended by ICP-Forests Manual, 2006, Part III Sampling and analysis of Soil. The sampling geometry was systematically designed with a random component. The maximum sampling depth was 100 cm and lead distribution was monitored during 425 days. First sample was taken after 50 days and every single next sample was taken after 50 days except for the last sample which was taken after 25 days. Before the profile contamination, physical and chemical soil analysis has been done. The cation exchange capacity of the soil was done because media affect mobility cations (anions) in soil. The effect of immobilizations of Pb is highest in the second horizons where the depth of investigating soil is 25-50 cm