Tbilisi: Recently a Community discussion forum was held in Georgia. This was held under the theme of “ Reducing the Risk of Disasters Caused By Climate Change in Georgia”. This was organised by the Centre for Environment Information and Education of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture.
It is specifically to be mentioned that this meeting was opened by Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture Solomon Pavliashvilin along with Head of Environmental Protection and Energy of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Nino Antadze and Head of Environmental Programs of the Swedish Embassy Khatuna Zaldastanishvili.
At the same time, the Representatives of 13 target municipalities, which include Telavi, Akhmeta, Signaghi, Lagodekhi, Samtredia, Abasha, Senaki, Khobi, Kobuleti, Chokhatauri, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti participated in the community forum and discuss the various aspects on the theme of the forum.
Minister Solomon Pavliashvili, speaking on the occasion, said, “As part of this important project, modern early notification systems are being installed in 11 river basins of entire Georgia, increasing the national capacity of the state to analyse information related to climate change as well as capacity to forecast and prevent disasters caused by natural hazards. Moreover, there is also an effective system of hazard management that is being installed, and appropriate infrastructure is being created as well. I would like to make the point highlighted that the most important component for the success of the project is to raise the level of education and awareness of the society”.
Similarly, all the Participants at the summary forum discussed the number of measures taken to expand the hydrometeorological and agrometeorological observation network. Under the framework of the program “Reduction of the risk of disasters caused by climate change in Georgia”, they also discussed the completed projects and ongoing coastal works, hazard maps, the process of preparation of community management plans, etc.
The winners of the contests held within the framework of the project were also announced at the forum. The first place in the competition, which was held under the theme of “Learn in a safe environment”, was won by the public school of Guthuri village of Chokhatauri municipality, whereas the second was secured by the public school of Iliatsminda village of Signagi municipality.
It is worth mentioning that in the competition “Climate-friendly Kindergarten”, the N2 kindergarten of Khobi municipality took first place, and the Ghaniri kindergarten of Samtredia municipality secured second place.
The program called “Reduction of the Risk of Climate Change Disasters in Georgia” is being funded by the Government of Georgia, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the governments of Switzerland and Sweden, and its implementation is provided by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Meanwhile, social media users also appreciated this initiative. One user, while lauding the discussion forum, commented that “On behalf of Khobi Municipality, we thank you for promoting these more important topics, for the opportunities given to us within the project, for interesting and productive days. We hope for your support in the future, we can do many good things together ”. Many other users also expressed their gratitude towards the authorities for this forum.
