Georgia to launch forest fire warning systems
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The Georgian Environment Ministry plans to design a monitoring and warning system for forest fires across Georgia that will give early notice of an impending disaster.
Negotiations with foreign donors and experts have already launched, said deputy head of the National Forest Agency Natia iordanishvili.
Iordanishvili said that these new technologies cost a lot but both international donors and the state of Georgia are ready to contribute to the initiative.
She believed that the warning systems could be launched next year.
Iordanishvili said Georgia is cooperating with experts from the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to design the warning system that fits the country’s landscape.
"We plan to start installing new equipment from those areas that we know need stricter monitoring”, Iordanishvili said.
She added that due to their climate and type of forests, the places of higher risk are Samtskhe-Javakheti, Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Kakheti.
Iordanishvili also said that such early warning systems will only help during natural disasters but nothing can help when a fire is a result of someone’s carelessness – for example, throwing a cigarette butt in the forest.
This summer saw an unusually large number of forest fires across Georgia.
The largest one was Borjomi Gorge wildfire in late august, where Georgia needed international help to handle the disaster.
A commission was set up upon the initiative of the Environment Ministry and involved the country’s leading nature experts to assess the situation and develop a plan of forest restoration.
A unique charity match between the all-time football stars has ended with a score of six to five as the "World XI” team defeated "GFF XI” at Tbilisi Dinamo Arena today. GEL 403,214 gathered from the sales for the event will now be spent on the restoration of the forest burnt in Borjomi Gorge in August.
A wildfire in the Tsagveri forest in south-central Georgia has been extinguished, but the firefighters are staying to monitor the site. Tsagveri is part of Borjomi Gorge, where a massive forest fire has happened earlier in August, too.
A new section of the forest near Tsagveri resort in south-central Georgia is still burning and more foreign countries are offering their assistance to Georgia.
Georgia is tightening sanctions against illegal tree felling to reduce damage to forests and encourage the sustainable development of forests in the country.
In about three years early warning systems will be installed throughout Georgia, enabling the population to receive relevant and timely information in a systematic way prior to disasters in order to make informed decisions and take action.
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.
A new programme will be launched in 2019 to co-finance a new enterprise that will process forest waste, announces Georgia’s Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture.
The Japanese Embassy to Georgia and international organization Mercy Corps have gifted two forest firefighting vehicles to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs.