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Trainings are being conducted to promote the implementation of the environmental responsibility system in Georgia in compliance with the EU standards
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Mrs. Nino Thandilashvili, the EU representative in Georgia, Mr. Alexander Daras and the representative of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Mr. Krzysztof Michalak attended the event.
As stated by the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Mrs. Nino Tandilashvili, European experts will share their knowledge through respective training to help us to understand in-depth how the Environmental Liability Directive works in the EU countries, also to bring the law enforcement system as close as possible to the European one.”
"Last year, we adopted a new law on environmental liability. It is one of the most important laws dealing with environmental governance issues and is directly related to the improvement of the environmental governance and law enforcement system. We are already starting to put it into practice, which is quite a complex process, new and innovative for our country.
The law focuses on improving and restoring the environment and repairing the damage caused to the environment. This is a systemic change in the environmental protection field and, from this point of view, it is very important for our specialists to study the European practice that is already in effect in the EU countries", Mrs. Nino Thandilashvili said.
The training entitled "Determining and Assessing the Measures to Restore Significant Damage Inflicted on the Environment and Preparation of a Restoration Plan" is being carried out within the framework of the EU4Environment project, with the support of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
It should be mentioned, that employees of the National Environmental Agency and the Department of Environmental Supervision under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture ( which are directly involved in law enforcement process), are attending the training session.
Within the framework of the training course, the participants will learn about the environmental liability system, environmental restoration technologies and various strategies to overcome environmental problems, regarding degraded urban, agricultural and industrial landscapes. Besides the theoretical training, practical examples will be discussed and field training will be conducted.
In 2021, Georgia adopted the Law on Environmental Liability, in compliance with the provisions of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement . The respective law aims to introduce a system of environmental liability, which will be in compliance with the European standards, and will be based on the "polluter pays principle", aiming to prevent, eliminate/mitigate and restore the environmental damage.
Under the law, environmental damage program has been created, which aims to prevent damage, restore the state of the environment, improve the state of the historically damaged environment, and conduct environmental research. The agencies responsible for the enforcement of the aforementioned law are the Department of Environmental Supervision (ESD) under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) and the LEPL National Environmental Agency.