Improving the environment in Vojvodina in order to adapt to climate change and reduce the risk of natural disasters

Project code: 142-451-2557/2021-01

Project realized by: Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management (UNSPMF)

Project leader: dr Stevan Savić, full professor

Project team: dr Dragan Milošević, dr Dubravka Milić, dr Jelena Dunjić, dr Milana Pantelić, dr Daniela Arsenović, Sanja Obradović – UNSPMF, and Mirjana Radulović – BioSense Institute

Project duration: 4 years (2021-2024)

Project is financed by: the Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research

Contact person: dr Stevan Savić, email: stevan.savic@dgt.uns.ac.rs

THE MAIN GOALS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE PROJECT

The main goal of this project is to intensify interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research of urban and natural (protected) environments in Vojvodina, through micro-location monitoring of climatic and bioclimatic conditions and through changes in biodiversity at the habitat level to provide assessments and measures for adaptation of population and natural habitats, climate change and extreme weather events.

Based on that, the project team consists of researchers with a focus on climatology, demography, biology, analysis and environmental protection and geoinformatics, who will cooperate with each other in the next four years.

The specific objectives of this project are:

– Climate/bioclimatic monitoring of urban and natural areas: use of data from networks of stationary meteorological stations (urban and rural), as well as application of innovative methods of mobile measurements in different environments (urban and/or natural) during different seasons or weather events (heat/cold waves). The monitoring methodology will focus on micro and local levels with comparative measurements in urban areas with different urban designs and/or in natural areas with different types of ecosystems;

– examining the local population in order to determine their attitudes towards sustainable development and nature protection. A face-to-face questionnaire will also be used for this purpose.

– current state of diversity of plant species with special emphasis on their microclimatic requirements and changes in habitat use in different types of ecosystems in the protected assets of AP Vojvodina.

– analysis of changes in vegetation cover based on the CORINE Land Cover database at the level of the entire AP Vojvodina as well as in selected protected areas. Data will be classified and separated by types of vegetation cover and changes will be defined by levels and corresponding periods.

– external thermal comfort and urban design/natural environment based on data obtained from stationary and mobile measurements in different types of urban and natural environments, external thermal comfort of the environment will be analyzed, especially during extreme weather conditions (heat and cold waves). External thermal comfort will be analyzed with the help of thermal indexes (PET, mPET, UTCI, Tmrt), which are obtained using appropriate software packages (RayMan and ENVI-met). This makes it possible to make concrete recommendations for improving urban design, in a way that will contribute to greater resilience to climate change and natural disasters.

CLIMATE/BIOLOGICAL FIELDWORK MEASUREMENTS

Fieldworks in Obedska Bara (April, June, October 2022): we performed biological and microclimate measurements in three different locations in forest environments.

MICROCLIMATE FIELDWORK MEASUREMENTS

Fieldworks in urban area of Novi Sad (summer 2022): we performed microclimate and biometeorological measurements in the urban area of Novi Sad.