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The intensity of soil erosion is the result of a combined action of natural factors and different human activities. This work aims to determine the factors controlling the change of soil erosion. Eleven watersheds from different parts of Serbia were used as the study area. An Erosion Potential Model was applied to estimate the soil erosion status of the watersheds in two periods, 1971 and 2010. The model indicated that the reduction of soil erosion intensity in the watersheds ranges from 12.4% to 82.7%. The statistical analysis examines quantitative relationships and combined effects between soil erosion and socio-economic and main physical-geographical determinants in watersheds. Watershed characteristics were divided into 5 classes, and within each class 22 variables were calculated: two variables relate to erosion, one to topography, two to land cover, seven to demographic and ten to agrarian variables. Correlation analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) have been applied to understand the main variables that contribute to change soil erosion intensity. The PCA identified four components that can explain at least up to 79.06% of the variation of all variables. This study explores new indicators for correlations with changing soil erosion and provides decision makers with access to quantification for environmental impact assessment and decision-making for adequate soil conservation and management programs.

The key problem of rural settlements in the South Banat district lasted into the 21st century through the spread of depopulated areas. Considering that settlements give a cultural landscape its basic features, that they are the main bearers of functional organization, and the hotspots of geo-spatial transformation, based on quantitative-qualitative indicators this paper analyzes the spatial-demographic determinants of the development of 94 settlements, and the impact of depopulation on the changes in the surrounding forest cover. The time span included in the analytical-statistical research of the demographic components and forest dislocation lasted from 1990 to 2018. Geo-spatial data for forest areas were taken from the Corine Land Cover database. The data obtained were then turned into visual representations, or maps, using the GIS ArcMap 10.8. software. The results indicated that total depopulation has been an ongoing, 30-years process in this area on the one hand, while the forest cover in the depopulated settlements located on the outskirts of the Deliblato sands (a special nature reserve) has decreased, and the forest cover in the depopulated settlements in the zone of the Vršac mountains has increased, on the other. These analyses are useful for obtaining more detailed insight into the state of forested areas in this part of Serbia, which is the least afforested one.