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

ENABLING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GEORGIA’S FOREST SECTOR REFORM-ECO.GEORGIA

Status: - ongoing  

 

Project Implementation Period:  2021 – 2028 years

 

Target Regions: 

- Kakheti (Telavi, Akhmeta, Dedoplitskaro, Kvareli)

 - Guria (Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti, Chokhatauri)

 - Mtskheta-Mtianeti (Tianeti) 

 

 

 

 

 

Context:

 

Georgia's forests play a central role in ensuring net removals of GHG emissions, which are projected to increase by about 70% by 2030 in the BAU scenarios. At the same time, the absorption capacity of the land-use, land-use change, and forestry sector (LULUCF) is rapidly declining due to forest degradation. Climate impacts and rural demand for firewood are putting pressure on forests as up to 90% of the rural population meet their energy needs through firewood. 

 

ECO.Georgia is a Green Climate Fund (GCF) project to enable the implementation of a forest sector reform, implemented by GIZ and the Government of Georgia. The project aims to mitigate greenhouse gases through improved, nature-based management of the country's forests and improvement of energy efficiency to reduce the demand for fuelwood.

 

Objective:

ECO.Georgia will enable the Government of Georgia to implement its transformational forest sector reform agenda to put the entire nation’s forests under the sustainable forest management (SFM) framework. It will do so by supporting the establishment of a nation-wide SFM system under Component 1 and in parallel, under Component 2, promoting market development for energy efficient stoves and alternative fuels to address the main drivers of Georgia’s forest degradation and unsustainable fuelwood consumption. Component 3 safeguards the reform implementation by diversifying livelihood opportunities and strengthening local self-governance in forest adjoining rural communities.

 

The third component will build the capacity of local authorities and citizens to participate in sustainable forest management. In doing so, communities in the target regions will be able to benefit from diversified income opportunities through improved forestry value chains and better access to forestry knowledge and skills.

 

 

 

Partners:

The government partner for the project in Georgia is the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. In addition to GCF, the Government of Georgia, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The following partners act as Executing Entities (EE):
• The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
• National Forestry Agency (NFA), 
• Department of Environmental Supervision (DES),
• Environmental Information and Education Centre (EIEC),
• Rural Development Agency (RDA)