The work represents a comprehensive analysis and quantitative assessment of all development resources in Slovenia. National regional natural resources, still rather well preserved social capital (social connectedness, still existing solidarity), and educated people are the principal pillars of sustainable development of Slovenia and all its regions. A balanced regional development, decentralization, and exceptional potentials for a safe level of self-reliance in the strategically vital commodities (food, water, wood, and regional varieties of renewable energy resources, abundant ecosystem services, and biotic diversity) are the supporting pillars of sustainable economic development and the related national security. In view of our own natural resources, the core of Slovenian innovative, sustainable development-environmental breakthrough with about 50,000–60,000 new green jobs by the year 2030 should be as follows: a) wood processing: 20,000–30,000 new jobs; b) stabilization of and the quickest possible increase in farming lands; a rise in general food self-reliance from 50–60% to 80%; and a greater role of work-intensive sustainable farming, eco-farming in particular: at least 20,000 new jobs; c) systematic energy-efficient retrofitting of public and private buildings: 7,000–10,000 new jobs; d) efficient use of energy and greater use of renewable energy resources: at least 5,000 new jobs, etc.
COBISS.SI-ID: 274445056
Long instrumental records of meteorological variables such as temperature and precipitation are very useful for studying regional climate in the past, present, and future. They can also be useful for understanding the influence of large-scale atmospheric circulation processes on the regional climate. This paper investigates the monthly, winter, and annual temperature time series obtained from the instrumental records in Zagreb, Croatia, for the period 1864%2010. Using wavelet analysis, the dominant modes of variability in these temperature series are identified, and the time intervals over which these modes may persist are delineated. The results reveal that all three temperature records exhibit low-frequency variability with a dominant periodicity at around 7.7 years. The 7.7-year cycle has also been observed in the temperature data recorded at several other stations in Europe, especially in Northern and Western Europe, and may be linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and/or solar/geomagnetic activity.
COBISS.SI-ID: 56952930
Gomance is a piedmont karst polje in the northern Dinaric Alps presenting geomorphological and sedimentological evidence of past glaciation. During the Pleistocene the polje was situated at the edge of the Snežnik and Gorski Kotar ice fields from where two outlet glaciers reached Gomance. The morphogenesis of the polje was reconstructed by means of geomorphological mapping, sedimentological studies, and ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurements, supported by hand-drillings. With GPR an almost entirely buried moraine system was also imaged and mapped, crucial in reconstructing the polje history. The depression was karstified and well drained without any surface streams before the Last Glaciation. When the glacier front reached the depression, the entire floor became covered by glacial and outwash deposits. Surface runoff dominated over karst drainage in a large part of the polje, particularly where distal outwash deposits with low effective porosity functioned as an aquitard. These deposits diverted surface drainage toward the lowest edge of the polje, which functioned as a ponor front along the entire length. The outwash system of the Gomance polje was active during the Last Glaciation as suggested by radiocarbon-dated outwash deposits.
COBISS.SI-ID: 59399010
Snežnik and Gorski Kotar are mountainous areas in the Northern Dinaric Alps. We investigated this remote and densely forested area on the border between Slovenia and Croatia between 2011 and 2014. The result of the fieldwork campaign is a 1:30,000 geomorphological map covering almost 600 km2. The study area mainly consists of Mesozoic age limestone and dolostone. Karstified carbonate lithology results in almost the complete absence of surface run-off and a dominance of typical karst morphology. The extensive karstified area was modified by Quaternary glaciations; therefore, the recent landscape is characterized as a glaciokarst. The focus of the presented map is to provide a basis for further research of Quaternary glaciations in the areas of Snežnik and Gorski Kotar. Along with the map, we propose a legend for glaciokarst landscape mapping.
COBISS.SI-ID: 58789474
Due to the steadily evolving concept of sustainability and new challenges for European agriculture, the sustainability concept has not been fully operationalized in practice, particularly not in the local level. This paper aims to make the concept of sustainable development operational through the elaboration of the Regional Agriculture Sustainability Index (RASI). Our research hypothesis is that sustainability aspects are not equally represented in regional agricultural development. The research confirmed large regional differences in achieving sustainability in agriculture and, additionally, particularly large differences between the various aspects of sustainability. In general, Slovenian regions show high environmental sustainability, while there was an obvious gap in the economic and social area in seven or five regions, respectively. We assume that common agricultural policy (CAP) requirements with their emphasized environmental component significantly contribute to the picture of unbalanced agricultural sustainability in Slovenian regions.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4781998