Georgia: Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Nino Tandilashvili, representative of the European Union Alexander Daras and representative of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Kristof Michalak attended the opening of the training on environmental responsibility.
As the Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture, Nino Tandilashvili, said at the event, these trainings will help us to understand in depth from European experts how the directive on environmental responsibility works in EU countries and to be able to bring the enforcement system as close as possible to the European one.
“Last year, we adopted a new law on environmental responsibility. It is one of the most important laws dealing with environmental governance issues and is directly related to the improvement of the environmental governance and enforcement system. We are already starting to put it into practice, which is quite a complex process, new and innovative for our country. The law is focused on improving and restoring the environment and repairing the damage caused to the environment. This is a systemic change in the environmental field and, from this point of view, it is very important for our specialists to study the European practice that is already in effect in the EU countries”, Nino Tandilashvili said.
The training “Determining and assessing measures to restore significant damage to the environment and preparation of a restoration plan” is being carried out within the framework of the EU4Environment project, with the support of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The employees of the National Environment Agency and the Department of Environmental Supervision of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture, who will be directly involved in law enforcement, will attend the training.
Within the framework of the training course, participants will learn about the system of environmental responsibility, environmental restoration technologies, and various strategies for overcoming environmental problems in relation to degraded urban, agricultural and industrial landscapes will be discussed. Along with theoretical training, practical examples will be discussed; field training will be conducted.
In 2021, Georgia adopted the Law on Environmental Liability in accordance with the provisions of the Association Agreement with the European Union. The law aims to introduce a system of environmental liability close to European standards, based on the “polluter pays principle”, and aimed at preventing, eliminating/mitigating and restoring environmental damage.
On the basis of the law, an environmental damage program has been created, which aims to prevent damage, restore the environmental condition, as well as improve the historically damaged environment, and environmental research. The agencies responsible for the enforcement of this law are the Department of Environmental Supervision (GZD) of the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture (MEPA) and the National Agency of Environment and Agriculture.
