Twelve protected areas in Georgia will receive support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to strengthen their management and financial sustainability, which will help the country conserve and protect its unique biodiversity, the UNDP and the Georgian Environmental Ministry reported.
The five-year programme will be carried out by the Caucasus Nature Fund (CNF) and the National Agency of the Georgian Protected Areas.
“The programme budget is $10 million,” the UNDP says.
The financial contribution is as follows: GEF funding- $1.8 million, Georgian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture- $4.8 million, CNF- $3.1 million, Bank of Georgia- $200,000.
UNDP head in Georgia Louisa Vinton stated that “without biological diversity, there is no other life on Earth, including our own”.
With plants and animals disappearing across the globe at alarming rates, protected areas are our unique resource to conserve and restore ecosystems and ensure the survival of the planet”, she stated.
Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Iuri Nozadze said that the programme is “particularly important.”
“Currently, eight percent of the country’s territory is under formal protection and this number is expected to increase to 20 per cent in the next eight years. We are pleased to join efforts with our international partners and business companies to make Georgia’s protected areas more efficient and sustainable,” he said.
