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The Conference to sum up the Sustainable Forest Management in Georgia - Phase II
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili made a welcoming speech at the conference of the project "Sustainable Forest Management in Georgia - Phase II". The Minister thanked the representatives of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN) for their contribution in the implementation of the project and underlined the importance of the sustainable forest management in Georgia.
"It’s noteworthy, that the development of the forestry sector is one of the top priorities of our country. Georgia has taken significant steps in this regard. We have developed a fundamental document - national forest concept and currently, we are considering the draft law of the New ‘’Forest Code’’. The implementation of the National Forest Inventory is already started in Georgia. Therefore, developing a sustainable forest management system is crucial for us, thus we will take all reasonable steps to achieve this goal "- said Levan Davitashvili. Special attention should be paid to the development of conservation and restoration of forests in Georgia. People should not be allowed to destroy forests, because forest belongs to everyone- was noted by the Ambassador of Austria to Georgia, Arad Benko, who also noted, that over the last seven years Austrian Cooperation for Development (ADC) actively and fruitfully cooperates with Georgia, which will be further continued.
The Executive Director of the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), Nana Janashia noted, that the first phase of the project started in 2012 and played an important role in the development of the forest sector in Georgia.
The participants of the conference discussed possibilities to provide and use forest ecosystem services and drew their attention to the institutional and financial-economic models to introduce in the forest management system. Sustainable forest management initiatives were presented by an international and Georgian experts under the frame of the project.
Moreover, the plan to include the restoration of Borjomi forests, disaster mitigation measures to eliminate or reduce the impacts and risks of hazards, development of a multi-hazard risk mapping, also hiking tour in Tbilisi and educational program for sustainable development goals to introduce at the community level- was also presented at the conference.
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Solomon Pavliashvili, Head of the National Forestry Agency, Tornike Gvazava as well as representatives of government agencies, private sector and community organizations involved in the development of the forestry sector attended the Conference.
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