The Government of Georgia, the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, the Parliament’s Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee, and the Rustavi Municipality are working together to bring a decades-old ecological project in Rustavi to fruition.
It is worth noting that this is the next step in the crucial process to improve the air quality and ecosystem of Rustavi, which began with the adoption of the Law on Environmental Responsibility.
The presentation of the first stage of restoration-deconstruction of the Chali forest was presented by Rustavi Mayor Nino Latsabidze.
At the event, Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture Nino Tandilashvili and Solomon Pavliashvili, Chairman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources of the Parliament of Georgia – Maya Bitadze, Delegate of Rustavi and Garabani Historical Villages in the Parliament of Georgia Irakli Shatakishvili, State Trustee in Lower Georgian Levan Kharabadze and Rustavi City Council faction, Georgian Members of the Dream” were in attendance.
A jointly developed document on the development of the Chali forest considers the division of 320 hectares of territory. According to the study, at the first stage, 20,000 seedlings of endemic oak, calf, and fish will be planted.
In order to increase the involvement of civil society, a memorandum of cooperation was also signed between Rustavi City Hall and the NGO “On the Shore”.
Rustavi Chali forests, on the borders of the city, on both coasts of Mtkvri, include the space between the old and the new bridge, which was seriously damaged in the 90s of the last century during the energy crisis.
Over the last 20 years, the Rustavi Chali forest has been partially naturally recovered, but no established strategy for its development has existed. In the territory of Chali forest, at this stage, up to 900 new seedlings have been planted.
