Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

Minister Davitashvili: “Environmental management entails effective use of oversight and administration. We will ensure a more effective system for evaluating influence on environment, which guarantees an increased engagement of the population”

Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Levan Davitashvili presented vision for development in the course of the “Envrionmental protection and rural development 2030”. “Upon approving the Government at the Parliament of Georgia, we stated that one of the core challenges of Georgia is eradication of braconniers. We will deploy vital actions for developing our policy in this regard, which shall translate into a policy that is more adequate, as well as empowers legislation with remedies; these remedies shall eradicate bracconiery and illegal use of wood and fishery. It is crucial to enhance environmental capacity, as well as high technologies.

Environmental management inquires effective usage of oversight and administration. We will ensure a more effective system for evaluating influence on environment, which guarantees an increased engagement of the population. We have witnessed how vital it is to ensure an increased engagement of population upon implementing energetic or infrastructural projects; boosting citizens’ participation will boost transparency, accessibility on information. We will ensure all of the latter objectives through an electronic platform.  

Capacity of the Environmental Supervision Department will be enhanced. Up till 2012, an oversight agency had been suspended, however, the Environmental Supervision Department was established in 2013 and empowered 32 crews to undertake patrolling for 24 hours in an enture coutry. Throughout the last few years, the respective Department’s human and technical resources have been strengthened through applying modern systems through capacity building of the staffers; by 2021, number of crews has triples and amounts to 103, thus covering each and every municipality” – Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Levan Davitashvili stated. 

In upcoming years, the Environmental Supervision Department has planned enhancement and perfection of electronic mechanisms, which will effectively equip fuel quality control lab, as well as elaborate fuel quality control norms compliance guideline; moreover, self-monitoring electornic system for organized and undisrupted emmissions of hazardous substances will be developed, also, an online system will be developed for self-monitoring and accountability of industrial fishery at internal ponds. The donors will support deployment of innovative technologies, so called “Red Spots”, which will be controlled through surveillance cameras and drones of the new generation. An undistrupted instriction of staff working on forests will be handled. Joint efforts with the interested parties will ensure accessibility and control on wood processing, transportation, processing and realization stages. 

As a result of anticipated actions, fuel quality will be enhanced and the Department will ensure constant compliance of the quality with the standards set forth by the legislation. The constant control will also be ensured with regard to emmmissions control, timely detection and response to the environmental pollution cases, support and control to aquaculture enhancement, as well as preventing braconniery and oversight on forestry, enhancing effectiveness of detection and eradication process. 

Functions and authority of the Department will be enhanced; the agency will entail an investigatory function, which will ensure a more effective and timely investigation of environmental criminal offences. The planned actions will aim at an undistrupted functioning of the environmental liability systems, prevention of damage, recovery of environment through the corresponding efforts, effective enforcement of environmental legislation, as well as eradication of industrial emissions and waste; the efforts will also aim at enhancing sustainable development of aquaculture and decreasing impact on biodiversity. 

Upon the initiative of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr Irakli Gharibashvili, 10-year action plan of the Government will be translated into individual presentations developed by the Ministries; these agencies will present their visions, which will be scrutinized as guidelines for economic stability and strength of the State, throughout the following years. 
 
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia is the first Government agency, which has presented 10-year development plan of the field.