| Environment Protection in Georgia: Challenges and Responses |
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21/04/2009 15:29 (213 Day 21:06 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- “Nature is our biggest wealth - Environment protection should become the priority for the country’s development and its public, as well as all the other stakeholders involved in this land,” Sophiko Akhobadze, Deputy Executive Director of REC Caucasus, told The FINANCIAL.
The Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus) is an independent, non-profit organization, established within the framework of the “Environment for Europe Process” by the governments of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and the EU to assist in solving environmental problems as well as development of civil society in the countries of the South Caucasus.
REC Caucasus assists the Caucasus states in solving environmental problems and supports them in building civil society through the promotion of public participation in the decision-making process, development of free exchange of information and encouragement of cooperation at national and regional level among NGOs, governments, businesses, local communities and all other stakeholders.
Deputy Executive Director of REC Caucasus reviews the situation of environment protection in Georgia and speaks about the plans of the foundation in the following interview.
Q. REC Caucasus has been in existence since the year 2000. Since then what valuable projects have been implemented in the Caucasus region for protecting the environment?
A. To achieve its mission the Centre encourages cooperation among governments, non-governmental organisations, business, academic institutions, media and other stakeholders by supporting free exchange of information, offering advice and funding, promoting public participation in environmental decision-making; offering assistance to all environmental NGOs and other stakeholders; and increasing public participation in the decision-making process, thereby assisting the states of the South Caucasus in the further development of a democratic civil society.
REC Caucasus successfully implements its mission through various programmes and projects throughout the Caucasus region. One of the tasks of REC Caucasus is to be a bridge between the public and governments. The Centre has proven to be a viable and independent organisation providing services to governments, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, businesses, international organisations and other environmental stakeholders. REC Caucasus plays an active role in interagency cooperation, too.
The organisation together with active environmental NGOs and the ministries of environment promotes the idea of environmental protection and sustainable development in the South Caucasus countries, demonstrating examples and arguments of direct links of environmental degradation and destruction with the growth of poverty, migration, economic recession, etc., i.e. other components (social and economic) of sustainable development.
Since its establishment the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus has implemented about 50 medium and large scale projects in the region which have contributed to the policy development, capacity building, facilitation of dialogue and networking, information exchange on environmental issues and supporting the civil society in the South Caucasus states. Capacity building and training of various environmental stakeholders at regional, national and local levels has been one of the main focuses of almost all projects. Therefore, the organisation has strong experience in providing trainings to different interest groups and deep knowledge on their needs, demands and constraints.
Q. How do Georgians care about the environment? Is the situation in Georgia bad in terms of polluting the environment or not?
A. At the moment our society is less active in the area of environment protection. This fact has a few explanations:
1. Georgians have less of a culture of harmonious co-existence with the environment and its protection. In my view, this was an effect of the Soviet Union when we lost a sense of responsibility towards the environment.
2. A major part of the society does not consider environment protection a fundamental human rights issue and has no special requirements in this respect. Evidence of this is the fact that environment protection issues have not been included into the electoral programmes by any of the political parties, even though bad management of forest resources on local levels has cause discontent among a majority of the population.
3. The fact that the social-economic situation is not very stable makes it very hard to raise the interest of environment protecting issues. As an example I’ll tell you about motor transport which is the biggest polluter of the environment. People prefer to buy cheap cars which are old and harmful for the environment. In Europe there are special fines for using old cars and the effect is cleaner, fresh air and people’s health being protected. If and when the economic situation improves the country will have more financial means and better opportunity to solve such pressing environmental problems.
Q. What projects have been organized in Georgia for the purpose of protecting the environment?
A. If we look at the largest donor organizations like the European Union, World Bank and United Nations programmes, OSCE, USAID, GTZ, KFW, etc, they are working very actively toward protecting the environment. We may say that many projects have been implemented by these organizations, but the most important method of approach should be more tangible result oriented and connected with the solving the concrete problems.
Q. In accordance with the data of the last 5 years have Georgians started caring about the environment more?
A. 5 years is an important period if talking about the figures. However unfortunately we can only say that environment protection has not been a priority for the Georgian Government for the last five years, since 2003 actually. This is because at the moment development of the infrastructure is the priority area for the Georgian Government - all other priority areas, including environmental protection have been prioritized before, but are not at the top of the list right now.
Q. In your opinion how effectively does the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources act in Georgia?
A. One thing that I can say for sure is that for the first time the Ministry has a Strategy for an Action Plan of future activities in different directions. The problem is that Georgia’s ministers are changed so often and for this reason, the realization of the mentioned plan seems unlikely. The main thing is the affirmation of the plan and if that happens, then things will change for the better.
Q. Do you collaborate with the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia and in what projects have you taken part with them?
A. The Ministry is considered one of the founders of our organization. Representatives of the MoE are members of the REC Caucasus Board of Directors, as well as the International Advisory Council.
REC Caucasus has a new governing triumvirate which consists of the directors of three regions: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and all the projects which are implemented by the Centre will be in accordance with the Ministry of Environment Protection.
REC Caucasus isn’t an ordinary NGO, as it was founded by the Government our activities should be coordinated with the governments of 3 countries. I can tell you about the projects which we plan to organize in cooperation with the Ministry; one of the plans is working in the direction of community forests which we plan to execute in the nearest future.
Q. In the whole Caucasus region, which country has the most protected environment?
A. It’s very hard to single out any of the regions in which the situation is hardest, or best. I would say that in all these countries the situation is more or less identical in terms of the environment. The ecosystem of these 3 countries has no borders so it will be hard to sort them in to the order of most and less polluted.
Q. The REC Caucasus Project “Promotion of Media Government Civil Society Environmental Dialogue in the South Caucasus” has been getting implemented with the financial support of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) since 2006. What was the aim and results (so far) of this project?
A. The role of the media in building environmentally friendly civil society and practically assisting in solving problems is considered a crucial pillar for the process. Hence, raising awareness of media representatives and encouraging coverage of environmental issues is imperative for achieving the desired level of public participation in environmental decision-making.
The main goal of the Project was to support journalists working in the field of the environment, increase awareness and commitments of decision-makers to sustainable development, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation in the Caucasus.
The Project supported local journalists in the development of materials covering all aspects, including negative and positive, of environmental concerns; raised environmental awareness of the public in the South Caucasus through strengthening environmental journalism and encouraging public participation in environmental decision-making through innovative techniques of communication and cooperation between environmental stakeholders, especially local media, NGO communities, decision-makers and local businesses; and increase awareness and commitments of decision-makers to sustainable development, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation in the Caucasus.
Within the Project 11 media-tours/trainings to various environmental hot spots of the South Caucasus were implemented. More than 100 journalists participated in the abovementioned events.
One of the main outcomes of the project has been the “Digital Map for South Caucasus Environmental Information”. In the nearest future it will be placed on the REC Caucasus website and cover comprehensive user-friendly environmental information for journalists and others concerned.
Q. The Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus has been operating under the management of a new Executive Body since January 2006. What was the reason for the structural change in the management?
A. The decision about the change was taken jointly by the governments of these countries and by the European Union. Before the change, REC Caucasus’ only Director was from Georgia. Currently all countries involved have more representatives and more of a sense of responsibility and commitment. The idea of having three regional directors is very important because of the interchange of ideas and considerations. At the moment we are feeling the biggest support from the governments of these 3 countries, which is essential for our success.
Q. Gas and oil stations are named one of the biggest polluters of the environment, how do you fight against them?
A. At the moment the Centre is popularizing alternative fuel sorts and decreasing the usage of pollutants. We are also trying to support healthy transport. The fact that we are an organization founded by the government means that we are no ordinary NGO and this doesn’t let us be troublemakers.
Q. Which of the oil producing companies in Georgia can be named the more environmentally responsible?
A. It’s very hard to evaluate which of the companies care most about the environment, but the most active company which reveals the highest level of interest in this direction is Wissol. On July 5, on the day of environment protection, Wissol carried out its obligation of using 0% bullet content in its fuel and will support healthy living popularization. It’s very important that the company realizes the means of such activities.
We plan to have a business-environment direction, when business is ready to help and support the environment. Companies may be promoted by advertising about environment protection and this will be profitable for all. The first company we plan to start close cooperation with is SOCAR . The company is also well known in Georgia because it has big plans to provide annual support in development of Kolkhety National Park.
Q. What should oil and gas producing companies take into account while producing their products and is it possible for them to avoid polluting the environment?
A. Last year REC Caucasus with the cooperation of UNEP based the Partnership for Clean Fuel and Vehicles (PCFV) and started the new initiative to promote Clean Fuel and Vehicles in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asian (EECCA) countries. During the conference government representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan elaborated the recommendations and next steps to promote clean fuel and vehicle actions in EECCA countries.
As a follow up of the conference, following the initiatives of The Union of Oil Products Enterprisers, Importers and Customers and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Georgia, a Stakeholders Committee (SC) was established in Georgia to discuss the priority actions and ways forward in the above mentioned field. REC Caucasus took the responsibility to host and facilitate the meetings of the SC. After identification of priority problems for Georgia the pilot project was developed by SC, which addressed the needs of monitoring the fuel quality at gas stations in Georgia.
Q. What is your forecast for the future of environment protection in Georgia?
A. In my view there are lots of things which should be done in the direction of environment protection, but the most important is to develop long term vision and policy documents for each area of Environmental Protection. The Government should become oriented on long term results and shouldn’t make short term decisions only.
And finally I would still use the Sustainable Developments motto: “Think Globally, Act Locally”. Each of us can make our contribution, all we need is action and interest.
Written By Tako Khelaia
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