Georgian environmentalists receive forest soil study equipment from German cooperation agency

Environmental protection professionals in Georgia have received a supply of equipment from the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) to help them better study samples involved in their work of researching forest soil.

A package of nitrogen analysers, pH-meters and more tools worth 113,000 GEL ($36,807/€31,741) was handed by the German agency over to Georgian professionals, with the supplies now set to equip the Soil Research Laboratory of the Scientific Research Centre of Agriculture (SRCA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia.

A release from the SRCA said the new tools would help its employees study more samples and raise the performance of the laboratory, as it is involved in a project for studying soil samples from forests across the country.

The SRCA laboratory is involved in studying forest soil to reveal impact of human activity on them. Photo via Scientific Research Centre of Agriculture of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia.

Along with receiving the package, the lab has also had four of its field specialists trained in relevant work, with expenses for the training covered by the German side. Scientists from Germany are also involved in consulting their Georgian counterparts as part of the project, the centre said.

The first phase of the work involving the SRCA includes studies on soil of pristine forests, with data submitted to a digital database that already features over 300 samples. The second part of the project, set to launch next year, will see studies moved to degraded forests, with the aim to study human impact on them.

The handover of the new equipment was part of the GIZ project of management of natural resources and safeguarding of ecosystem services for sustainable rural development in the South Caucasus (ECOserve).

Carried out in the three countries of the South Caucasus, the programme spans the years 2018-2021 and is aimed to address the issue of "severe and continued degradation" facing the land-use systems of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.