Environmental body reveals 12,772 violations across Georgia in 2023

Illegal forest felling, violations of forest legislation, transportation of timber and violations of technical regulations by sawmills were among environmental infringements identified by state supervision across Georgia over the past year.

The Environmental Protection Ministry’s Department of Environmental Supervision revealed on Wednesday it had identified 12,772 cases of environmental violations in 2023, with 535 of the incidents qualifying as criminal offences and handed over to investigative bodies for “further action”.

Statistics of cases established by supervision over the year included:

• 3,111 cases of illegal forest use
• 1,465 violations of forest legislation
• 922 violations in transportation of timber
• 724 violations of technical regulations by sawmills
• 2,595 violations of the Waste Management Code
• 2,097 violations of ambient air quality protection
• 1,477 violations of fishing and hunting laws
• 775 violations of water quality legislation
• 706 violations of land legislation
• 686 cases of illegal mineral extraction
• 454 violations of permit conditions and unauthorised activities

The body also said it had detected 871 facts of other types of environmental violations.

Most of the combined cases - 2,621 - were found in the eastern Kakheti region, while the figure stood at 833 in the capital of Tbilisi.