Country
Georgia

Local project partner
Enterprise Georgia, Rural Developmet Agency, Georgian Farmer Association, local centres for adult aducation and training Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e. V.

German project partner
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Donor
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Duration
01.02.2023 - 31.01.2025

Georgia plans to implement a reform agenda in the forest sector against the background of the national climate change targets (NDC) signed by the state government as part of the Paris Agreement. To this end, a country-wide framework for sustainable forest management is to be created to combat unsustainable fuelwood consumption as the main cause of forest destruction. The new framework will empower and oblige municipal structures to restrict, control and authorize the use of forest resources. These changes will impact established ecological and economic systems in communities that have been intensely dependent on forest resources. As soon as the traditional sources of income through the unlimited exploitation of forest resources are prohibited, sustainable, alternative sources of income must be promoted in the affected communities. 

The aim of the project is to support the transition from informal, fuelwood-related sources of income to other, formal sources of income, thus compensating for the loss of informal sources of income caused by the new framework for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). This should result in the communities in the affected regions of Georgia becoming economically stronger and more resilient.

Tasks

• The project is aimed at entrepreneurs in forested and alpine regions.
• Entrepreneurs should be enabled to develop alternatives to exploitation of the forests, e.g. legally compliant timber industry or ecotourism.
• To this end, 55 to 60 entrepreneurs in eight communities are being trained in basic financial education, entrepreneurial education and the development of business ideas.
• Forest connected value chains are to be promoted in accordance with the new framework for sustainable forest management.