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Georgia conference envisions stronger mountain laws

12.09.2014

The Mountain Regions Development Conference in Kazbegi, Georgia, is developing a conceptual vision that will be submitted to the Commission for Development of Mountainous Regions, who will deliberate whether to use it as a framework for legislation.

These current efforts are grounded in the past. The Constitution of Georgia, states: "The state shall take care for the equal socio-economic development of the whole territory of the country. With the view of ensuring the socio-economic progress of the high mountain regions, special privileges shall be determined by law". 

In 1999, the Georgian Parliament adopted a law on the social-economic and cultural development of the country’s mountains regions, which was aimed at developing mountain region infrastructures, tourism and industry. Around 86 percent of territories of Georgia are mountainous, but only a small percentage of the population are living in them. This proportion meant that the law could not work and was abolished in 2009, Merab Sharabidze of Georgia’s Ministry of Environment and National Resource Protection explained

The Georgian Parliament and government have recently started working on new legislation to sustainably develop Georgia’s mountainous regions, and a special commission has been established. Several meetings have been organized with government agencies, municipalities and civil society, including one in Mtskheta-Tianet six months ago. Prime ministers current and past have made statements about mountain law.

Some practical steps already have been taken: the Georgian Forestry agency established a subsided quota for firewood for mountain households (15 m3/year) with a price around USD 1.75 per m3.

According the government, a new draft law on mountain regions will be ready in late 2014. Read more