Georgia: In the Patriarchate of Georgia, a meeting of the Joint Forest Management Commission was held within the framework of cooperation between the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the Apostolic Autocephalic Orthodox Church of Georgia.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia shared the glimpses of the meeting on its official Facebook Page on March 12, 2026, Thursday. The Georgian Ministry also shared a small note about the meeting, along with its glimpses.
At the meeting of the commission, which was attended by the Patriarchate’s Throne, Metropolitan of Senaki and Chkhorotsu Shio (Mujiri), Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture David Songhulashvili discussed the issues of cooperation in the field of protection and management of forest areas around the church-monastery.
“The Joint Commission discussed important issues related to forest management. All the relevant issues have been formed and defined, and an action plan on how to take further steps and jointly manage our country’s unique resource, our forest,” David Songhulashvili said.
The meeting discussed the prospects of future cooperation in the field of forest ecosystem protection and sustainable management.
It was noted that the cooperation between the Ministry and the Apostolic Autocephalic Orthodox Church of Georgia plays an important role in the protection and maintenance of forest resources in the vicinity of church-monasteries.
“Once again, we celebrate the importance of this cooperation, because the forest is our strategic resource, a national value.” Historically, many churches and monasteries were located in the forest. Today is the process of restoration of monastic life and, of course, all of this entails us one great responsibility, that the area in which our ancestors presided over holiness, to be a place of prayer and holiness to be properly protected, within the requirements that exist today, whether it is from a state or ecclesiastical point of view,” said Gori and Ateni Metropolitan Bishop Andria Gvazava.
