Tourism is very often praised as a suitable instrument for socio-economic development which uses natural resources while at the same time contributing to the protection of the environment. Against this background, tourism development has a significant potential to contribute to the sustainable development of the Djerdap region. In most of the protected areas in Serbia local population is not aware of values and importance of the area they live. Nature conservation is usually seen as treat for the activity of local people. We expect that involvement in this project and development of local strategy for sustainable tourism development will change opinion of local population.

Djerdap NP is a part of Carpathian Mountains and it is situated in the North-East part of Serbia, bordering Romania. 100 kilometres long river valley is made up of four gorges. Thanks to the sheltered position, 60 forest and shrub communities have been preserved many of which are relics of previous, tertiary forest communities. Plant varieties can be found including relicts and species whose range in Europe has been reduced. Involvement of local community in decision-making processes connected with biodiversity protection is crucial for this project.

The territory of Eastern Serbia (Djerdap region) is an area with untouched natural values, but also an area with strong cultural basis in the form of medieval heritage and antique monuments which make it a future trump card of tourism in Serbia. According to the Marketing Strategy for Serbian tourism, the main idea underlying promotion of Eastern Serbia (including the Djerdap region), is displayed in the slogan: “Still untouched, still undiscovered".

From the point of view of biogeography and especially ecology, dendroflora of Djerdap is regarded as the most important part of its vascular flora. Numerous herbaceous plants found in the forests, on meadows, rocky terrain and rocks, are another botanical story. However, most interesting are the endemic plant species, because of their specific ecology and limited distribution. One of these endemic species is known as exclusive endemic of the Djerdap Gorge: DJERDAP TULIP (Tulipa hungarica Borb.)