The Employees of the Department of Environmental Supervision of Georgia has reported a large number of incidents of environmental law violations. As per the latest data it has been revealed that there were 12 772 incidents of environmental violations in the previous year of 2023.
It is to be specifically mentioned that this is the data that compiled the incident of environmental violations from January 1 to December 31, 2023. Out of these violations incidents 535 contained criminal offences, and materials were sent to investigative authorities for further response and initiate legal actions.
At the same time there were 3 111 reports about illegal forest use and out of those 1465 were violations of forest legislation, 922 – were violations of illegal transportation of timber, and 724 were violations of technical regulations by illegal saws.
It’s worth noting that 75 illegal saws were exposed across the country last year as part of the fight against illegal logging in forest areas, including protected areas.
It is worth mentioning that From January 1 to December 31, 2023, personnel of the department also recorded the 2 595 violations of the Waste Management Code, 2097 violations of atmospheric air legislation, 1 477violations of fishing and hunting rules, 775 violations of water legislation, 706 violations of land legislation, 686 illegal acquisition of fish, 454 violation of permit conditions/illegal activities. During the same period, 871 incidents of other environmental violations have been revealed.
The employees of the department revealed that most of the incidents that is 2621 occurred in Kakheti. similarly, 2180 violations in the working territory of the Western Regional Authority, 1867 in the working area of Adjara and Guria Regional Authority, 1648 in Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti, 1053 in Mtskheta-Mtianeti, 883 in Shida Kartli, 836 in Lower Kartli, 786 in Samtskhe-Javakheti reported.
As far as the capital city of Tbilisi is concerned 833 environmental violations have been detected by the employees of the Department of Environmental Supervision from January 1 to December 31, 2023. Out of these 833 violations 21 contain criminal offences and the materials were sent to the appropriate authorities for further response.
