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

print

share

Nino Tandilashvili, the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, submits the Draft Law on the Creation and Management of Guria National Park for the first reading.

"The development of protected areas is one of the priority directions for us. We have doubled the protected areas in the last ten years, and this process continues. The Agency of Protected Areas and the Caucasus Program of the World Wide Fund for Nature carried out significant work - through funding of the Swedish government: on-site research was conducted to develop a draft law for the creation of the Guria National Park.
We worked extensively with the local population and held public discussions in municipalities. Guria National Park will be established on the territory of Chokhatauri and Ozurgeti municipalities, on an area of 15,310 hectares, based on the consensus of all state agencies. Of this, 92% of the total area - 14,141 hectares - is a forest area, and the remaining is primarily alpine meadows. 

As we are aware, creating protected places entails certain restrictions. In this regard, I would clarify that traditional activities like mowing and pasture use are not restricted near the national park.

This will be the first national park established in the territory of Guria, and I believe it will play a crucial role in the context of regional development.
We intend to construct the administration and the visitor center in the upcoming years, which will eventually make the area a popular destination, the center of attraction, and bring additional benefits to the local population," said Nino Mrs. Tandilashvili.

The Chair of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, Mrs. Maia Bitadze, emphasized the importance of establishing protected areas, noting that the benefits of protected areas are well understood by local residents. She also added that, in addition to the protection of endemic biodiversity, this is a great share of the economy and a crucial step for further development of regions.

The Creation of the Guria National Park aims to overcome the challenges in the Guria forest landscape, namely human-induced damage, biodiversity protection, and ecosystem preservation. Moreover, it will help attract tourist flows to the protected areas and allow the locals to generate additional economic benefits.