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

"The system of air quality assessment is the primary condition to improve the air quality in the country. In recent years, the efforts of the Ministry were mostly directed towards the re-establishment of this system. However, the monitoring network has been significantly expanded over the years. If in 2012, the evaluation of air quality was taken in 4 cities, using an out-of-date non automatic equipment and methodology,  in 2018 we already had 8 automatic stations and 1 mobile station to measure all the points across the country. Most of the automatic stations were purchased by donors from the governments of Netherlands and Japan. At present indicative type measurements are taken in 25 cities of Georgia, the samples are sent to the UK's leading laboratory and the processing of results are undertaken in accordance with the European standards.

''The expansion of the monitoring network is the priority of the Ministry. This year, new stations will be operated in Rustavi and Kaspi. The Ministry actively cooperatives with the donor organizations and partner countries. We have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection of Italy. Under the memorandum the atmospheric air quality modeling and forecasting system will be introduced in the country, also 5 new monitoring stations will be purchased and installed.The atmospheric air quality modeling is a modern, European mechanism of evaluation, which gives a full picture on the quality of air across the country, we will have an information about air quality at any point of the modeling area "- Levan Davitashvili noted.