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

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Nino Tandilashvili: "Prime Minister’s decision to toughen the punishment for illegal cutting of a large number of timber resources is crucial".

After the Government session today, Mrs. Nino Tandilashvili, the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, spoke to the media representatives about the initiative of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, which envisages amendments to the Criminal Code, based on which, the punishment for illegal cutting of a large number of timber resources will be toughened.


'' A significant initiative was announced at the Government session. As we know, forests cover 44% of our country. Forests are vital to our country, and even more, forests are a great wealth. Therefore, the legislation on illegal logging must be tightened to the greatest extent possible. We devoted special attention to the facts of the unlawful cutting of a substantial number of trees. In such cases, the legislation must be as strict as possible. 

First and foremost, we must prevent similar incidents, which undoubtedly will have a deterrent impact. I will also mention that in recent years, we implemented a National Forest Inventory across the country, which demonstrated that our country's forests require further care. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture made active efforts to tighten controls. Along with tightening the legislation, it will be necessary and crucial to tighten the control mechanisms," said Mrs. Nino Tandilashvili.