Environment and Energy

(closed project) In March 2014, association “Green Alternative” with financial assistance of the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation has started implementation of the new project that aims to increase awareness around sustainable energy and support development of the sustainable energy policy in Georgia in participatory and inclusive way.

That topics about the environmental are not very popular in Georgian society became clear during the discussion on the topic “Green activism for the environment”.

How do Georgian specialists view “green competitors” in politics within the framework of sustainable development, caring equally for both global and local issues?

Forest should have its owner, existing legislation should be changed as Georgia’s forestry sector is in great need of reform - participants and speakers of the debate held at the HBF on 9 November 2010 on the issue of new directions of Georgia’s forestry reform, agreed upon these postulates. Though, the speakers invited by the HBF had diverging opinions regarding mechanisms for implementing reforms.

On May 10, 2011, the fifth public debate supported by the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation was held at Telavi State University. The meeting was devoted to the agricultural problems and challenges in the Kakheti region.

Heavy industrial projects that have been planned or are being carried out in the region and in Poti may cause significant ecological problems. Today, when society is focused on how to solve economic difficulties, it is not easy to advocate environmental issues.

The waste management system available in Georgia does not meet international standards, waste collection and disposal systems are not well-developed in the country; waste is not recycled and used as a secondary resource. None of 63 landfills available throughout the country today meet sanitary and ecological requirements.