How has the EU helped Georgia protect the environment in the past 18 months?
All these achievements will permit Georgia to accelerate the implementation of the environmental provisions included within the EU-Georgia Association Agreement and to improve its environmental protection system to the ultimate benefit of Georgian nature and the health of Georgian citizens. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
During the past 18 months Georgia has designed legislation for environmental liability, drafted a proposal for a Marine Environment Strategy and Action Programme, trained inspectors and assessed air quality aspects, and prepared management plans for three Emerald Sites with the support of the European Union (EU).
The EU has just concluded its 18-month project 'Support for the Implementation of the Environmental Provisions of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement’.
Project results include:
- Proposals for four by-laws on environmental liability
- A draft National Marine Environment Strategy and Action Programme
- Management Plans for three Emerald Sites: Samegrelo 2, Racha-Lechkhumi, and Svaneti-Racha
- Reports on air quality aspects (emissions from petrol distribution and from paints production and distribution; air quality policy outlook)
- Reports on protected areas monitoring and management
The EU said in its press release that all these achievements will permit Georgia to accelerate the implementation of the environmental provisions included within the EU-Georgia Association Agreement and to improve its environmental protection system to the ultimate benefit of Georgian nature and the health of Georgian citizens.
Watch the video published by the EU Delegation to Georgia on its official Twitter account where project team leader Rob Bakx briefly summarises the project achievements.
18 months of EU-GE cooperation on environment
— EU Delegation Georgia ???????? (@EUinGeorgia) October 16, 2020
➡️draft legislation on environment liability
➡️draft Marine and environment strategy
➡️management plans for protected areas.
Find out more????https://t.co/XtK15oTY0s #EU4Georgia pic.twitter.com/LzAr66tryH
Environmental liability
The idea behind environmental liability is that 'the polluter pays', to avoid that non-polluters end up paying the cost, e.g. through higher taxes or personal damage. Recently, the draft Law on Environmental Liability was adopted by the Parliament of Georgia on second hearing.
Marine strategy and action programme
A proposal for a Marine Environment Strategy and Action Programme aims at improving the quality of Georgia’s Black Sea marine environment in line with the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
The EU says that marine pollution is increasing rapidly, affecting wildlife and ecosystems.
Pollution includes acidification and eutrophication of the sea, underwater noise, accumulation of plastic and other wastes, toxins and comes from industrial, harbour, and agricultural activities, shipping, tourism, traffic, sewage water, and littering.
Air quality
Georgia is in the process of harmonising its legislation with the EU’s Paints and Stage I Petrol Vapour Recovery Directives. To support the process, the EU project has assessed Georgia’s capacity regarding volatile organic compounds control from the petrol and paints sectors and inspectors were trained to enforce the rules.
Also, an Air Quality Policy Outlook report for Georgia was drafted, concisely reviewing the country’s state of the ambient air, air pollutants and air polluters, with a number of recommendations for each of these for further action.
Emerald Network of protected areas
The ‘Emerald Network’ is a network of nature protection areas, launched by the Council of Europe in 1989 as part of its work under the 1982 Bern Convention, aimed at conserving wild flora and fauna and the natural habitats of Europe.
Georgia is also a party to the Convention and has the obligation to establish its own country Emerald Network. To date, 46 Emerald sites have been formally designated in Georgia and management plans must be elaborated for each site. The EU project supported this work with a series of workshops, the development of the first three management plans, and with monitoring and conservation activities.
The Georgian parliament has approved tougher penalties for violations of the Waste Management Code for polluting the environment with animal and inert (building, demolition waste, sand, gravel, stone) waste.
Kazbegi National Park, the local glacier access trail and the meteorological station in the area have been cleaned up today.
The European Union (EU) is launching three new projects for environmental protection and climate change in Georgia, announces the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.
Georgia’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the European Union have launched a new project aimed at raising support for the environmental sector in the country.
Georgia is in talks with the European Union (EU) for financial assistance for the next seven years, announces the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping Georgia to adopt legislation on environmental liability that will hold private companies accountable for pollution and other environmental harm, announces the UNDP Georgia.
Air pollution in Georgia contributed to more than 4,000 lives lost, while its economic costs were estimated at $560 million, or 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), reads the World Bank report 'Georgia: Towards Green and Resilient Growth, that estimates losses associated with pollution and degradation of agricultural and forest land and coastal zones.
Industrial Waste Mapping (IWM) is coming to the Georgian municipalities of Rustavi and Zestaponi this month with the help of the European Union for Environment (EU4Environment) Action. Industrial waste mapping is a method to quantify and demonstrate the distribution and management of industrial waste within a geographic area.
The Green Climate Fund is launching a new €47 million ECO. Georgia project to support the implementation of Georgia's forest sector reform in 2021-2027, announces the Ministry of Economy of Georgia. The project will cover the Georgian regions of Guria, Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Kakheti with its eight municipalities of Akhmeta, Telavi, Dedoplistskaro, Kvareli, Tianeti, Lanchkhuti, Ozurgeti and Chokhatauri.
Topics of climate change and global security, as well as work of Georgian institutions for facilitating green growth, were on the agenda in Tbilisi on Wednesday, as the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, the Embassy of Italy and the Embassy of the United Kingdom co-hosted an event in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).