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

print

share

Otar Shamugia: " A National Park will be built on around 15,000 hectares in the Guria region".

Following today's government session, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Mr. Otar Shamugia,  spoke with media representatives about the importance of establishing a new protected area - Guria National Park - on the territory of Chokhatauri and Ozurgeti municipalities in the Guria region. 

 "The development of protected areas is one of the priority directions for us. In the last 10 years, we have doubled the area of protected areas; It is important that we continue this process. Studies are being conducted in various regions regarding establishing protected areas; we actively worked with the local community. We had public hearings in local municipalities. According to the project, a national park will be constructed on around 15 thousand hectares of land in Guria. A significant part of this territory is comprised by the municipality of Chokhatauri, which covers approximately 13 thousand hectares, and the municipality of Ozurgeti, which covers around 2 thousand hectares", said Mr. Otar Shamugia.

According to the Minister, the creation of the Guria National Park is crucial for both the protection of local biodiversity and the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the local population by involving the population in various ecotourism activities.