Biodiversity and sustainable local development in Georgia

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The aim of the project is to strengthen the protected area network and multifunctional forestry as core elements of large-scale landscape protection and thus contribute to the sustainable development of structurally weak regions in Georgia. This is to better protect biodiversity, preserve the integrity of ecosystems and ensure the sustainable provision of their ecosystem services. The project aims to support the Agency for Protected Areas (APA) in establishing new protected areas and better managing existing ones. The main aim is to plan and sustainably orientate the sustainable use of natural resources by the local population in the protected areas and their buffer zones (support zones) together with the user groups. A further focus will be on the development of ecotourism offers in the vicinity of selected natural monuments. In the autonomous province of Adjara, the forestry administration (Adjara Forest Agency (AFA)) is to be supported in implementing a modern forestry concept in which, for the first time, trained forest workers will carry out logging in accordance with modern forest management plans. This is intended to replace the current, unsustainable practice in which private individuals carry out the felling themselves (social cutting). The target group of the project is the rural population in the communities bordering the prioritized protected areas and the forest areas of Adjara, who are dependent on the supply of firewood.