The Georgian Parliament adopted the Georgian Law “Amendments to the Georgian Forest Code” on the third hearing of the Forest Reform, implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture. The main goal – along with improving forest protection and forest use practices- is to strengthen forest monitoring and control.
Within the framework of the National Forest Agency’s reform, the component of forest protection is being strengthened. To eliminate illegal logging, more than 1.7 million hectares of territory are divided among 903 guards and handed over to forest guards with personal responsibility.
To enhance control, 499 new personnel will be added to the system, including 401 ranger positions, reducing the range per ranger from 10 to 15,000 hectares, averaging 2,000 hectares. It should be noted that the salary of forest guards has doubled since January this year.
It is also emphasized that in order to eliminate illegal logging and degradation in the forest sector, the state is moving to a completely new model of forest protection and monitoring. And forest monitoring will be fully digitalized and switched to modern technologies.
Tablets, side cameras, rations, and photo traps are actively used for the effective implementation of state control, which will bring the quality of physical protection and internal control of forests to a new level.
Along with forest protection, the process of forest restoration is also actively underway. In the fiscal period 2025-2026, work has already been completed on 1,722 ha, with the current year’s plan to plant another 2,600 ha, and with a 10-year strategy, nationwide reforestation measures will be implemented on a total of 51,000 ha. With the proposed changes, there is an additional mechanism for logging, which means to grant the right to use the forest for the purpose of logging through auction.
