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

The Conference addressed to "Open Government Initiative on Climate Change" was held at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia. The participants discussed how scale up cooperation between the central and local authorities and tackle challenges related to climate change.The importance to engage municipalities in climate change mitigation activities has been stressed by the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Nino Tandilashvili at the conference.
The number of subscribers on the EU initiative “Covenant of Mayors’’ is increasing daily. At present, 23 municipalities of Georgia are members of this agreement. The representatives of the municipality wish to join the decision made by the central government and contribute through their actions to fulfil the commitment under the frame of the Paris Agreement. "said Nino Tandilashvili.

Public engagement is critical in climate change matters- was noted the representative of the World Resources Institute, Mark Robinson.
"In terms of climate change and sustainable development, it is very important to share experiences of other countries. The involvement of local authorities as well as cooperation with civil society organizations, which are accountable for climate change matters is of utmost importance. Today, under the framework of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), we had an opportunity to learn more about Georgia's experience on climate change "said Mark Robinson.
The representatives of different countries discussed challenges faced by local municipalities and the need to introduce a more rational system of catastrophe risk assessment.
The representatives of international organizations, private and public sector attended the conference, which was organized by the World Resources Institute.