New 7-year, $32 mln programme to help prevent natural disasters in Georgia
The project first will be launched in Georgia’s Adjara region and will later cover all regions of Georgia. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Georgia is starting a new seven-year programme worth $32 million that will help the country to prevent natural disasters.
The project first will be launched in Georgia’s Adjara region where geological and hydrological maps of high precision will be made. The project will step-by-step cover all the regions of Georgia where early warning systems will be installed.
The goal of the project is to prevent or mitigate possible negative consequences caused by natural disasters in the country.
Early warning systems are already installed in the basin of the River Vere in the capital of Tbilisi and in the Devdoraki Gorge in northern Georgia.
Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism under the UNFCCC, offered $27 million while the Swiss government allocated $5 million for the programme.
The deputy minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Nino Tandilashvili said that such scale project had never been implemented in Georgia in terms of preventing the climatic threats.
This is a 7-year project. If it will be successfully implemented about 1.4 million people will be better protected from climatic threats. In the spring and summer seasons, natural disasters are quite frequent, and it is important to have a risk prevention system in the country. Unfortunately, today we react to a disaster only after it happens”, said Tandilashvili.
She also said that during these seven years, a new generation of geologists, hydrologists, and meteorologists will be trained and for this reason cooperation with Georgian higher education institutions is planned.
Georgian Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Levan Davitashvili has revealed his office’s plans for 2019 while delivering a speech at the Parliament of Georgia.
The Georgian government has announced the launch of the Climate Change Adaptation Programme with a budget of $70 million .
The Georgian government has approved the Natural Disaster Prevention Programme for which 20 million GEL will be allocated from the state budget.
In order to prevent severe consequences of flooding in the village of Tchuberi, Svaneti, the National Environmental Agency of Georgia has installed hydrometeorological measuring devices on the Nenskra River.
Severe hail has hit the town of Telavi and five villages in Kakheti region, eastern Georgia.
Heavy rain has hit Akhmeta and Lagodekhi municipalities in Kakheti region. About 1000 hectares of fruit trees and vineyards were damaged as the water level in River Alazani increased.
Georgian farmers will receive compensation for damage to crops caused by hail and severe weather conditions. A calculation of the total losses suffered this season is underway.
The first nationwide opinion poll about climate change conducted by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Georgia reads that Georgians see climate change as one of the top three challenges facing humanity, including poverty and infectious diseases.