Georgia: The representatives of Adjara Forest Agency and the World Wide Fund (WWF) held a working meeting about the sustainable forest management project in Kedi Municipality on January 31, 2025, Friday.
The working meeting was attended by Deputy Mayor Mamuka Fartenadze and representatives of the administrative unit. The main goal of the meeting was to inform the locals about the project’s details in advance and prevent obstacles in its implementation.
Project “Sustainable Forest Management in Adjara”
The project “Sustainable Forest Management in Adjara” is funded by the German Federal Republic and implemented through the Reconstruction Credit Bank (KfW). The goal of the project is to transform the Adjara Forest Agency into a perfect forest management body, which ensures the whole cycle of sustainable forest management is implemented.
The project includes:
- Forest maintenance and restoration;
- Implementation of conservative measures;
- Strengthening the resilience of forests to climate change;
- Using forests and providing for the population is dangerous.
In 2021, the Georgian Parliament made amendments to the Forest Code, implemented in the main law regulating the management and use of forests of Georgia. According to these changes, from December 31, 2025, the existing system for the purchase of firewood and wood materials will be operational and a new system will be operational.
According to the new system:
- All the operations of making timber in Adjara forests will be carried out by the Adjara Forest Agency.
- The agency will buy the necessary machine equipment and hire woodcutters, tractors, and truck drivers.
- Firewood and wood materials will be transferred to specially built yards, from which the population can get firewood with a wood-wood usage ticket.
- The agency distributes firewood in different forms: crumbled, chopped, dried, and so on.
- Also, the agency plans to sell firewood from forest roads in order to minimize the distance that the population will have to travel to obtain firewood.
The attention of the meetings was focused on the following issues:
- The goals of the forest management project and its impact on the management of forest resources;
- Involvement of local communities in the project;
- Informing municipalities and community members so that there are no obstacles when the project starts.
