309 cases of illegal logging, transportation of timber registered in Georgia in January 2020
In total, illegal logging and transportation of timber amounted to about 450 cubic metres. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The State Sub-Agency Department of Environmental Supervision has registered 309 cases of illegal logging and transportation of timber throughout Georgia in January 2020.
Out of 309 cases, six of them may be criminally prosecutable, says the Department of Environmental Supervision.
Illegal logging and transportation of timber were registered in the following regions:
- Kakheti – 130 cases
- Adjara – 65 cases
- Imereti – 34 cases
- Kvemo Kartli – 29 cases
- Samtskhe Javakheti – 18 cases
- Samegrelo – Zemo Svaneti – 13 cases
- Shida Kartli and Mtskheta-Mtianeti – 14 cases
- Racha-Lechkhumi and Lower Svaneti – 4 cases
- Guria – 2 cases
In total, illegal logging and transportation of timber amounted to about 450 cubic metres, says the agency.
Foresting licenses will no longer be issued in Georgia per the country’s new Forest Code, said head of the Department of Biodiversity and Forest Policy of Georgia’s Ministry of Environment and Agriculture Karlo Amirgulashvili.
The State Sub-Agency Department of Environmental Supervision has registered 3,573 cases of illegal logging and transportation of timber in 2019.
251 cases of illegal logging and timber transportation were recorded in between July 1-31, the Environmental Supervision Department reports.
The import of timber will be exempt from value-added tax (VAT) in Georgia in order to prevent illegal tree felling in the country, Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced.
2,754 cases of illegal logging, transportation of timber were recorded in 2020, says the Ministry of Environmental protection and Agriculture.