Tengiz Nasaridze attends meeting regarding Land degradation

Georgia: Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture Tengiz Nasaridze attended the program’s national working group meeting, “Achieving a neutral balance of the land.”

Land degradation is a global problem. Desertification and land degradation threaten one-third of the Earth’s surface, leaving approximately 1 billion people without income and shelter. The issue of land degradation in Georgia is most acute in Kakheti, Lower, and Shida Kartli.

The global community approved the “Sustainable Development Agenda 2030” and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. The Georgian government has taken the initiative to contribute to sustainable development. It has taken active measures to adapt the SDG agenda and its goals to national circumstances and their implementation. The Georgian Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture has a leading role and responsibility in implementing these goals.

“In the context of the modern global climate challenge, it will be clear how critical and priority the issue is worldwide, including Georgia.” It, of course, is reflected in the action plans and goals of the respective states, and we, of course, have this direction as one of the main priorities in our activities. In 2015, plans for sustainable development were defined, with one of the leading directions being the fight against soil degradation”, – Tengiz Nasaridze noted at the meeting.

Most of Georgia’s LDN national goals set in 2017 have already been achieved, mainly in terms of expanding protected areas, improvement systems, and the forest sector. Sustainable land management principles have been developed based on the bill, which includes LDN principles.

Due to some time elapsed from the formation of national goals, it became possible to review them. The program created by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification secretariat serves to review national goals. Georgia has applied for participation in the program and has been selected to participate in the program along with 18 countries.

At the meeting of the working group created within the program, the situation and challenges of land degradation in Georgia, the process and results of the first phase of the program supporting the achievement of a neutral balance of land degradation in Georgia, and the presentation of the national goals for achieving a neutral balance of ground degradation/Ghana About the hands were discussed.

Nadezhda Dementieva, a representative of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), attended the meeting, as well as representatives of state agencies, non-governmental organizations, scientific circles, banking, and the private sector.