T. Bakuradze, M. Gwilawa, Z. Jincharadze,
M. Khurtsidze and M. Kurtubadze
UNEP/GRID-Arendal (1995)
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APPENDIX A
Relevant Contact Addresses
APPENDIX B
Environmental Legislation
Draft Environmental Legislation
APPENDIX C
State of the Environment Report
APPENDIX D
List of International Conventions signed by Georgia,
Date of Signature and Status
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In 1994, UNEP initiated a program to support environment assessment, reporting and data management capacities in countries with economies in transition in Central and Eastern Europe. This includes identification of needs and the formulation of project proposals to meet these needs. With partner agencies and other donors, UNEP seeks to leverage finances to correct any imbalances. This activity is a part of UNEP's global ENRIN (Environment and Natural Resources Networking) Program, which is a direct follow-up of Agenda 21, chapter 40 on information for decision-making. This chapter underlines that there is a need for easily accessible environmental information at all levels, from that of senior environmental decision-makers to the grass-roots. An agreement has been made with the GRID-Arendal centre in Norway for implementation of the ENRIN program in Central and Eastern Europe.
In response to the invitation from UNEP's Regional Director for Europe, Hans Alders, the Georgian Minister of Environment, Mr. Shota Adamia, stated in his letter dated December 28, 1994 of Georgia's interest to be included in the program. He expressed his enthusiasm with Georgia's participation in contributing to efficient international environmental assessments and to the production of relevant information for decision-making.
This report is the result of the initial analyses in Georgia. It is intended to distill and present promising avenues of cooperation, stimulate discussion and promote international consensus on the way ahead. It also seeks to attract other partners to this important venture of ensuring true international cooperation in stimulating cooperative action on issues affecting our shared resources.
Nairobi, 31. August 1995
Assistant Executive Director Harvey Croze, UNEP
Arendal, 31. August 1995
Director Svein Tveitdal, GRID-Arendal
Last updated 10 April, 1996 by Lorant Czaran /
This report has been compiled at GRID-Arendal under UNEP's ENRIN programme. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the persons responsible for contributions to this publication, in particular:
For writing the report, the EGIS team at the Georgian Ministry of Environmental Protection, T. Bakuradze, M. Gwilawa, Z. Jincharadze, M. Khurtsidze and M. Kurtubadze and to Msia Gwilawa for coordinating the activities at the Georgian Ministry.
Professor Nicolas Berutchachvili of Tbilisi State University provided valuable comments to the report and practical field support during my visit to Georgia.
For coordinating the publication and maintaining communication between the authors, the editors, the lay-out persons and others, Dawn Freund at GRID-Arendal. For making the publication fully UNEP compatible and providing us with practical input, Danielle Mitchell of UNEP/DEA Nairobi.
The report was edited by Solfrid Tjørhom of Fevik, Norway; Per Harald Stabell of Litangen & Kuvaas (Arendal, Norway) was responsible for the lay-out; the front cover map was designed by Philippe Rekacewicz of Le Monde Diplomatique in Paris.
Constructive advice and practical support was provided by various individuals within the UNEP system, namely ENRIN coordinator Dan Claasen of UNEP/DEA in Nairobi, Andrea Matte-Baker of UNEP/ROE in Geneva, Director Svein Tveitdal and Claudia Heberlein of GRID-Arendal.
Arendal, 9. September 1995
Otto Simonett, Programme Manager Eastern
European and Developing Countries
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Assessment Report
For the Establishment of a UNEP/GRID compatible Environment and Natural Resource Information Network on the National Level
Georgian Ministry of Environmental Protection EGIS Initiative Group
T. Bakuradze, M. Gwilawa, Z. Jincharadze, M. Khurtsidze, M. Kurtubadze
Agenda 21, Chapter 40, on information for decisionmaking, outlines two program areas for Bridging the data gap and Improving information availability to ensure sustainable development. According to this guiding document, "relevant international organizations should develop practical recommendations for coordinated, harmonized collection and assessment of data on the national and international levels". The aim of this report is to assess the current status and general needs of the environmental information network in Georgia. Guiding assistance by UNEP/GRID in preparing the report is acknowledged. The objective of the Assessment Report is to help "set up continuous and accurate datacollection systems and make use of geographic information systems, expert systems, models and a variety of other techniques for the assessment and analysis of data".
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2.1 Brief country profile
Republic of Georgia parliamentary republic, population approx. 5.5 mill. (1988), capital Tbilisi (1.5 mill.), 63 districts, average population density 78 inh/sq. km.
Geography
Georgia is located between the 41° 07' and 43° 35' latitudes, and between the 40° 05' and 46° 44' longitudes. The total area is 69 700 sq. km. The border length is 1970 km, 315 km of which (16%) is coastline. The country is bounded in the west by the Black Sea. In the north, Georgia is bordered by the Russian Federation, in the east by Azerbaijan, and in the south by Armenia and Turkey. The territory of the Republic of Georgia features a highly contrasting topography. The north of the country is occupied by the Greater Caucasus chain (highest point Mt. Shkhara, 5068 m), which includes the Great Caucasian Range (the main watershed) and Gagra, Bzipi, Kodori, Svaneti, Egrisi, Racha, Lomisi, Kartli and other ranges. The intermountainous depression south of the Greater Caucasus encompasses the Kolkheti lowland, Inner Kartli, Lower Kartli and the Alazani Plain. Still further to the south the Lesser Caucasus ranges rise to a medium height (Meskheti, Shavsheti, Trialeti and other ranges), reaching 2850 m. The southernmost area of the country is covered by the volcanic South Georgian Upland (Mt. DidiAbuli, 3301 m, its highest peak), dissected by specific canyonlike river gorges.
The Greater Caucasus and the South Georgian Upland join with the Likhi Range, which at the same time divides Georgia into two contrasting climatic zones: Western and Eastern Georgia.
The location of Georgia on the border between the moderately humid Mediterranean and the dry continental AralCaspian areas is responsible for the climate of the country. A humid subtropical climate dominates in Western Georgia, while Eastern Georgia features a transition from subtropical to moderate. The mean January temperature varies from 2 °C (Kolkheti) to 3 °C; in August from 23 to 26 °C. In the seaward areas of Western Georgia, the mean annual precipitation varies from 1000 to 2800 mm (in the mountains), in Eastern Georgia from 300 to 600 mm.
The rivers of Georgia belong to the basins of the Black and Caspian Seas. In the Caspian Basin flows the Mtkvari (or Kura) River with its numerous tributaries (left) the Didi Liakhvi, the Aragvi, the Iori, the Alazani, (right) the Paravani, the Algeti, and the Khrami. The Black Sea Basin rivers include the Rioni, the Enguri, the Kodori, the Acharistskali, the Bzipi and others. There are not many lakes in Georgia, the largest being Lake Paravani
(37 sq. km), and Lake Paliastomi (17.3 sq. km), and the deepest Lake Ritsa (116 m) and Lake Amtkeli (72122 m) (both are impounded lakes).
The vegetation of Georgia is extremely rich and diverse, with numerous relict and endemic plants (dioskeria, Pontic and Caucasian rhododendron, boxtree, zelkva, persimmon, etc.). Forests cover over 1/3 of the area, with broadleafed species (oak, horn beam, chestnut, peach, etc.) common at lower levels, dark conifers (fir and spruce) in a higher mountain belt, and pine in highermountain valleys. Alpine meadows are spreading above 1800 m. The Kolkheti and Alazani plains and the lava plateau's of the South Georgian Upland are dominated by cultivated plants (tea, citrus's, grapes).
History
Georgian history has its origin in the 1st millennium BC. After that time, the Diaokhian (conquered by Urarteans between the 9th and the 8th century BC) and Colchic Kingdoms existed on the territory of modern Georgia. Greek settlements (Phasis, Dioskuria) were established on the Black Sea coast from the 6th
to the 5th century BC. At the same period of time the Iberian Kingdom was rising in the eastern part of modern Georgia. Achaemenid Persia was spreading its influence over the Georgian states, but they managed to maintain formal independence.
In the year 65 BC, Pompeus incorporated the Colchic Kingdom into the Roman Empire and Iberia became its satellite. After the 4th century, Roman domination was changed by new regional powers, the Persian Sassanids and the Byzantine. During this period, Christianity was spreading in Georgia and was declared the State religion (in the year 337, the Autonomous Georgian Orthodox Church).
The oldest available manuscripts compiled in the original Georgian alphabet belong to the 5th century, but their origin is believed to date from as early as the 3rd century BC.
After the 7th century, Georgia was also dominated by the Arabian Caliphate. At the beginning of the 8th century and in the 9th century, the feudal states of Kakheti, Hereti, TaoKlarjeti, and Abkhazian Kingdom weakened the Arabian influence. The period between the 11th and the 12th century was the "Golden Age" of Georgian history; under the Bagrationi dynasty economic and cultural developments achieved the highest point in the middle age history of the country. Overall progress was interrupted in the 13th century by MongolTatar conquerors. Their rule lasted for more then a century. A short period of revival ceased again at the end of the 14th century due to several invasions of Timurlane. In the period between the 15th and the 18th century, the country was divided into numerous satellite states: Kakheti, Kartli, Imereti, Samtskhe Saatabago, Samegrelo, Guria and Abkhazeti. From the 16th to the 18th century, Iran and Turkey were fighting with each other for spheres of influence and periodically dominated Georgia, weakened by its internal conflicts.
The turbulence of the medieval history of Georgia sustained also in modern times. In 1783, after the signing of the Georgievsk Treaty, the orthodox Russian Empire established its protectorate over Eastern Georgia. Finally, Russia incorporated both the eastern (1801) and western (18031864) parts of the country into the Russian Empire as the Tiflis and Kutaisi Provinces.
After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Georgia regained its independence (1918), which lasted only three years before the invasion of Red Army troops. Since 1921, Georgian SSR was part of the former Soviet Union. After the 1991 Soviet Putsch and break up of the USSR, Georgia regained its independence (declared officially on May 26, 1991), but ethnic wars, raging in Abkhazeti and the former South Osetian Autonomous Region, led to enormous political and economic difficulties and to the subsequent membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States (1994).
Economy
Half a decade ago, living standards in Georgia were quite good. In the Soviet period, Georgia was wellknown for its large underground economy: this was the only possibility of private entrepreneurship under the orthodox socialist state controlled economic system. Unfortunately, political liberalization turned into the turbulent process of ethnic tensions and subsequent rapid decline of economic activities that Georgia has experienced during the last five years.
Agriculture has always been more important in the Georgian economy than industry: 42 % of the Gross National Product in 1991, while industry constituted another 34 %. The rest was divided between construction, transport/communication and trade. Georgia produced almost the entire citrus fruit and tea crops of the former USSR, and a large share of highquality grapes and wine. As for industry, it was a relatively large producer of steel pipes, electric motors, synthetic fibres, shoes and canned goods. But the recent crisis has led to an almost complete standstill in the economy, brought the country to the edge of disaster, and caused the entire Georgian population to become completely dependent on Western humanitarian aid.
Georgia relies heavily on imports of energy from other countries, notably Russia (electricity and crude oil) and Turkmenistan (natural gas). The country's inability to pay for its energy demands has resulted in sharp cuts of energy imports (Turkmenistan has virtually stopped the natural gas supply); consequently the entire population has spent the last two winters without electricity.
The financial sector has also experienced heavy fluctuations. Georgia was practically forced to introduce its own currency, the Coupon, after the monetary reform was carried out in Russia (March, 1993). Initially set equal to the Russian Ruble, the value of the Coupon dropped to 250 per 1 Ruble in a single year, a clear consequence of the 4digit inflation rates.
Nevertheless, recently achieved political stability has generally had a positive impact on the economic situation as well. Though it is too early to speak about a recovery, a stop in the decline of the Coupon exchange rate, rapid pace of economic reforms and privatization, and a strict monetary policy are creating a positive background for the restoration of industrial production. A moderate influx of foreign investments clearly indicates the increasing confidence in the steady economic development of the country. This trend has had a psychological effect, but has yet to be reflected in actual economic statistics. Some basic economic indicators (source: State Committee for Social and Economic Information) in comparison with the same period last year are as follows (September, 1994):
- Unemployment 4% (official figures are
essentially underestimated)
- Fall in Gross National Product 52.1 %
- Fall in Gross Domestic Product 49.6 %
- Industry 54.0 %
- Agriculture 45.0 %
- Trade 44.3 %
- Construction Industry 14.5 %
- Increase of consumer prices in
state and cooperative sectors 196.7 times
- Minimal survival rate estimate - 447 US $
- Average annual wage estimate - 300 US $
2.2 Environmental issues and
environmental decisionmaking
The main environmental problems facing Georgia originate from a variety of industrial and agricultural activities in the major cities and rural areas of the country. The state of the natural resources is affected by a wide
spectrum of human activities, such as:
- chemical industry and metallurgy,
- transportation (cars, railways, aviation, navigation),
- energy (hydroelectric and fossil fuel power plants),
- coal mining, oil drilling and refining, mining of
different kinds of materials, like copper, magnesium, arsenic, marble, etc.,
- exploitation of land, water (sea, rivers, lakes,
artificial water reservoirs) and forest resources,
hunting, fisheries,
- use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
in agriculture,
- construction industry and production of hard
materials, cement and asbestos production,
- communal (municipal and rural) waste generation.
The major environmental hot spots are concentrated in the big cities. Tbilisi, with its industrial sector and huge number of inhabitants and Kutaisi, the Rustavi metallurgical factory and chemical plant "Azoti", the Batumi oil refinery and port, the port of Poti, the Zestaphoni factory of ferrous compounds, the Kaspi cement production plant, the Chiatura, Tkibuli and Madneuli mining sites; this is an incomplete list of the heaviest industrial polluters. One should also mention Mtskheta Research Nuclear Reactor near Tbilisi, shut down in 1990 after public pressure, which will remain for a long period of time a potentially dangerous source of radioactive leakage.
Ethnic wars in the environmentally vulnerable regions of the country have imposed a tremendous load on the natural ecosystems. Military activities using modern heavy conventional armaments, hundreds of thousands of refugees, escaping military activities through ecologically delicate mountainous regions, and many other factors undoubtedly have affected severely the state of the environment.
This and other types of activities lead to heavy pollution of the environment. Many of these processes are quite common also for other countries. At the same time the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was accompanied in Georgia by a number of difficult political problems. Political uncertainty and a kind of power vacuum in the country has severely affected the environmental situation. Although the dramatic fall in industrial production has had a positive influence on the state of the environment (almost no pollution from industrial sources), a major energy crisis and a total paralysis of electric power supply systems has initiated an uncontrollable process of tree cutting, not only in the forests, but even in the parks and streets of the large cities. The relative political stability achieved this year may in the near future lead to the restoration of industrial production at some level and, consequently, apart from deforestation, other environmental problems may also contribute to the degradation of land resources and the pollution of air and water basins.
Due to transitional processes taking place in Georgia, it is not possible to characterize the environmental situation reliably. The existing mechanism of environmental monitoring suffers greatly from the general economic stagnation. A lack of financial and technical resources makes it extremely difficult to perform all the necessary measures to draw a picture of the current environmental situation in realistic terms. It is more appropriate to use maybe old, but more or less reliable statistical data to discuss the pollution problems of different media. A gradual future increase of industrial production may create a similar pattern of pollution.
Air pollution
The major source of air pollution used to be traffic. In 1990, 1 250 000 tons of pollutants were emitted into the air. Traffic contributed 895 000 tons (71.8 %). In this period, more than 1200 enterprises were operational, and the number of all types of cars exceeded 750 000. In comparison with the year 1989, emission from stationary industrial sources decreased by 63 000 tons, and traffic pollution decreased by 69 000 tons due to a fall in industrial production and a decrease in fuel supply. This tendency was more clear in the years 1991 1992: total emissions have fallen to 345 000 tons (industrial sources 159 000 tons, and the rest from traffic).
Waste Water
In 1992, the total discharge of waste water was approx. 1140 mill. m³, 90 mill. m³ of which was contaminated water discharged without treatment (8%), 20 mill. m³ contaminated but subject to insufficient treatment, 715 mill. m³ regarded as not contaminated according to existing norms (60%). and 315 mill m³ purified to the level dictated by state norms (30%). Total pollution load to Georgian waters from industrial sources in 1992 is given in the table:
Ingredients Total Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) 10 170 tons
Oil products 190 tons
Phenols 24 tons
Heavy Metals 9 tons
Industrial pollution is mainly caused by metallurgy, oil refining, coal mining, and the chemical industry. Nitrogen compounds (8 tons), organic (8370 tons) and mechanical (9280 tons) substances were released in 1992 by municipal sewers and water treatment plants. A major problem is also the inadequately controlled agricultural contamination of surface water with fertilizers and pesticides.
Solid Wastes
Municipal wastes constitute the extreme factor affecting the state of the environment. At present 15 major garbage dumps are operational in almost every major city. Besides, all district centers are equipped with dump sites. Nevertheless, uncontrolled dumping of communal garbage lead to the worsening of hygienic conditions throughout the country. According to official estimates, the total amount of solid wastes in 1992 was 64.5 mill. tons. 70% of the total amount (45.2 mill. tons) comes from the mining industry. Metallurgy, the chemical industry, the construction industry and other sectors are responsible for the following pattern of solid waste generation:
Hydrides 658 tons
Arseniccontaining substances 1899 tons
Nickelcontaining substances 222 tons
Oilcontaining substances 70 000 tons
Phosphoruscontaining substances 226 000 tons
Chromecontaining substances 72.6 tons
Pesticides 2500 tons
Carbon enrichment wastes 1.3 mill. tons
and others
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