0608-B1

Georgia's Forestry Sector: Current Problems and Ways Forward

Konstantine Bziava^[1] and David Gubeladze

Abstract

The paper describes the forestry sector in Georgia. Forest covers 40% of the country, including the major part of the mountainous area. In lowlands and plateau deciduous forests consist primarily of broadleaf species such as beech, oak, hornbeam and chestnut, whilst at higher altitude fir and spruce are found, and in the highest mountain belt pine predominates.

The problems that Georgia's forestry sector is currently facing are outlined:

• Economic and social problems specific to Georgia in transition (overall decline of economic activities, severe budget constraints, high domestic and foreign debt, low GDP growth rate, institutional weakness, etc);

• Unequal distribution of water resources;

• Deforestation problems;

• Land degradation, soil erosion and desertification;

• High occurrence of natural disasters;

• Existence of local pollution "hot spots".

Reforms in the following priority areas are recommended:

• Preservation of the diversity of forest ecosystems;

• Ensuring stable regeneration of forest resources;

• Improvement of the relevant legal base;

• Training (and study visits) of personnel (forestry researchers and managers, including forestry economists and financial managers) in sustainable management, ensuring improvement of social and economic conditions of the staff;

• Reform of the forestry system, making it independent from entrepreneurial activity;

• Creating conditions that will attract private investments into forestry.

The top priority is to stop and reverse deforestation. A major nationwide program is needed to stop the various causes of deforestation. Sanitary logging should be carefully controlled. Sources of alternative and economically viable fuels need to be found as soon as possible. New construction projects should be sited with much more care than in the past, taking environmental factors including trees into account. Livestock grazing in forest areas needs to be carefully controlled to allow successful tree reproduction.

Introduction

Georgia varies greatly in climate and relief. The Greater Caucasus in the North and the Lesser Caucasus in the south are joined by the Likhi ridge to create a natural barrier dividing Georgia into contrasting climatic zones. Western Georgia is humid, in the Black Sea coastal zone - subtropical, while Eastern Georgia tends towards a temperature climate. In the west the average annual rainfall is 1000 to 2800 mm, whereas in the east it is only 300 to 600 mm. This variety of climatic and relief conditions results in diversity of ecosystems in Georgia. Vegetation is represented by versatile endemic and relict species. Forest covers 40% of the country, including the major part of the mountainous area. In lowlands and plateau deciduous forests consist primarily of broadleaf species such as beech, oak, hornbeam and chestnut, whilst at higher altitude fir and spruce are met, and in the highest mountain belt pine predominates.

Erosion is a serious problem particularly in mountain areas, where along with natural processes significant contributions come from cultivation of steep slopes (without terracing), impact from overgrazing and uncontrolled, disorganized chopping of trees.

In Georgia a general economic decline took place after the collapse of the USSR. Reduced GDP brought about economic and social problems and a «free-fall» in the standard of living. This itself had a two-fold impact on the environment. On the one hand, due to the general economic decline, aggregated pressures from economic sectors (industry, power, agriculture and transport) were reduced. On the other hand, pressures on local environments from both urban and rural communities increased. However, despite the overall reduction in environmental pressures from major economic sectors, per unit pollution increased relative to the 1970s and 1980s, due to the obsolescence or absence of pollution control technologies and the existence of poor compliance monitoring and control systems.

Problems

- Economic and social problems specific to Georgia in transition (overall decline of economic activities, sever budget constraints, high domestic and foreign indebted ness, low GDP growth rate, institutional weakness, etc);

- Unequal distribution of water resources;

- Deforestation problems;

- Land degradation, soil erosion and desertification;

- High occurrence of natural disasters;

- Existence of local pollution «hot spots»;

Emerging Issues

In the light of current and future economic trends, the Georgia may also face the following environmental issues:

- Pollution with oil products and destruction of ecosystems as a result of construction and operation of new oil and gas pipelines;

Problems with environmental pollution and transit of dangerous goods along transport corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (known as TRACECA) corridor.

Forest Land, Forestry Sector

Georgia is rich in forests. The land area reported as belonging to the Georgian forestry fund comprises of 2,988,000 ha, of which some 2,752,000 ha is forested. These figures represent nearly 43%, and 40% respectively, of the country's total territory of 6,949,400 ha. The total forest reserve amounts to 4.34 mil m³ with annual increase of about 4 mil m³.

Table 1 General data on Georgia forests

Source: Statistical services of Georgia, 2000

Forests are the nation's most valuable resource from the environmental, economic, scientific and recreational point of view. Besides providing industry and the population with timber, the forests fulfill some other significant functions preventing soil erosion, water retaining and regulating run-off; have sanitary and hygienic functions as well as many others. The forest ecosystems in Georgia are a complex of soil, water, air and unique flora and fauna species.

The Department of Forestry (DoF), which had earlier the level of a ministry, manages over 80% of the forestry fund (state forest estate) areas. The Department is responsible for forestry management on 2,409,000 ha, which 2,169,00 ha is under forest cover. The total standing volume n this are is estimated at 379.2 mil m3. The distribution of forests in Georgia is uneven. Along with the forest-rich regions there exist areas with less then 10 % of forestation.

Differences of climatic between east and west Georgia determine differences in the vegetation present. In the east, along with the forest ecosystems of the humid zone, arid-thin and thin forest ecosystems are presented.

Table 2 gives details on the species and age composition of the forests managed by the Department of Forestry. In summary, over 80% of the forests are composed of the forests are composed of broadleaves, and some 19% consist of conifers. The forests are mainly deciduous. Prevailing species are oriental beech - 48.5%; hornbeam - 6.6%; oak - 12.2%; alder - 3.2%; chestnut - 3.8%; 17.4% are evergreen species (Caucasian fir, oriental spruce and Bichvinta pine).

Table 1: Species and age compositions of forests managed by the department of forestry

Source: Department of Forestry, Georgia (1998)

Concerning the age structure, almost 48% of the forest area consists of poles, followed by about 30% of over mature trees (including 8% of trees more than 100 years old), 15% f mature trees, and about 7% of saplings. Although more precise statistics for the roughly 20% of forest area outside the jurisdiction of the Department of Forestry are not available, it is believed that the species and age composition is similar.

The Environmental Role of Forests

Much of Georgian territory is undulating and mountainous. Towards the northern border with Russia, the Caucasus Mountains rise to over 5,000 meters, and there is another block of high mountains in the south-west, adjacent to the Turkish and Armenian border. Rainfall varies greatly from west to east, being 2,000 - 4,000 mm in the western mountainous zones, 1,000 - 1,200 mm in the northern mountainous areas, 1,200 - 2,000 mm in the center-west, and 400-800 mm in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the country.

The role of forests for soil and water conservation in Georgia, under the conditions of a rugged topographic relief, and often elevated precipitation, cannot be overemphasized. 22.3% of forests are at 0-500 m, 23.5% - at 501-1000 m, 16.6% - at 1001-1500, 17.4% - 1501-2000 m and 19.8% above 2001 m above datum. The majority of forests are situated mainly on steep mountain slopes. The percentage versus inclination is as follows: 3,8% - 0-10⁰; 33.4% - 11-25⁰; 38.7% - 26-35⁰; 24.1% - 35⁰ and at steeper slopes. Figure 1 bellow presents the distribution of forests by elevation and Box 1 shows the distribution of forests on slopes.

Figure 1 Distribution

Source: Department of Forestry

Box 1 Forest area by gradient

Source: Department of Forestry

The authorities are well aware of the vital role of forests to the country's ecological balance and are trying to protect the forest cover vigorously. However, recent incidents of illicit felling for fuel and construction purposes, due to the energy crisis and interrupted log and wood imports, signal a potential danger to the forests which will be difficult to fully until the inter-republican trade will again more normalize and imports can resume.

Forest and forestry - problem description

Almost 40% of Georgia is forested. The forests are a unique source of biodiversity and major economic resources. They are situated mainly on steep mountain slopes, and fulfill an important function in preventing soil erosion, having a water retaining and water regulating ability. The forests are mainly deciduous, with oriental beech as prevalent species. They provide habitats for many rare and endangered plants and animals, many of plants being endemic or glacial relics.

The forests are governed predominantly by the State Forestry Department. During the soviet period, Georgia imported most of its wood from Russia, leaving its own abundant forest resources largely untouched. Most of Georgia's forests are still classified as protected and most harvesting is therefore illegal. Nevertheless illegal harvesting, mainly for local consumption as firewood, takes place which is largely out of the control of the Forestry Department. In recent years, selective cutting occurred in the Georgia, when the highest quality trees were cut. During the last ten years cutting was extensive on the Saguramo-Yalon range (East Georgia), and on the outskirts of Tbilisi (Capital of Georgia). For the last ten years, the largest amount of cutting has taken place on former collective farms that had no owners following privatization. The situation in this direction is critical. Cutting of green zones was particularly sever around urban area of Georgia in early 1990s, where population (as it was mentioned above) was forced to use forests for fuel wood because of an energy crisis. Consequently the situation in these settlement has substantially worsened.

Uncontrolled grazing in forest areas is also common practice at present. This itself causes the destruction of biodiversity of underbush woods, endemic and relic species being most vulnerable among them.

During recent military conflicts in Abkhazia and partially in Pankisi valley, bombing, forest fires, clear cutting for heavy military equipment have damaged the forest cover. Out flows of refugees and depopulation of the regions have reduced human pressure and created good conditions for forest regeneration.

Low prices on timber favor its export from Georgia. Pricing systems do not allow for the full costs of forest protection, management and rehabilitation activities, leaving without consideration indirect benefit arising from environmental functions of the forest.

To sum up, the problem of deforestation has not been so acute for the Georgia as in some tropical countries, where over the last thirty years the forest cover has been considerably reduced. In addition to anthropogenic activities, fires have a considerable influence on the forest cover. Nevertheless, in case of the Georgia, the forest fires are not so common as in Siberia and Far east, fro example.

Forestry policy

Before the break up of the Soviet Union, uniform forestry policy was conducted in the Georgia. All forests were public property and belonged to the State Forestry Fund (estate). Forests were divided into various categories. According to Soviet legislation, the forests fell under three categories based on their location and function. The first category forests had water regulation, soil protection, sanitary-hygiene and recreational functions. Forests of special importance, such as national parks, state reserves, reservations, etc. also belonged to this category. The second category consisted of the forests located in densely populated areas with protective and some commercial value, along with forests belonging to collective farms. The third category included the forests designed purely for commercial cutting, which served as a state forest stock. Different regimes of resource use management were applied to these categories of forests.

In the early 1990s Georgia began to develop and implement independent national policy. Although some efforts have been made to introduce new policies and management practices, traditional forestry practices remain widely in use. New forestry code and national strategy have been developed and adopted. Grant programs and projects have been implemented through financing the major donor organizations, the World Bank being the major donor. The main goals of these projects are to establish forestry system similar to those western countries.

Despite these, the forestry sector in Georgia faces serious economic, institutional and technical problems. Frequently forest management and protection efforts are duplicated by different agencies. Law enforcement officers lack the capacity to detect violations and act appropriately. Most importantly, there is a lack of current data on forest resource and thus, a forest inventory needs to be conducted and modern resource monitoring and inventory systems established.

Actions in forestry

In order to preserve the fragile biodiversity and ecological balance of the mountain forests and to ensure sustainable use of this reserve, the strategy for development of the forestry in Georgia has been worked out with support of the World Bank. The latter considers forestry in the context of the problems which hinder its sustainable ecological, social and economic development. Along with this identified are institutional changes and major investment projects for promotion of sustainable development of the forestry economy in transition period.

As mentioned in strategy the forest management system was created in the period of central planning and does not meet the actual needs of the forestry. Although in the soviet period the sector was operating in conditions of so-called non-financing by the state, all expenses were usually covered from the state budget. Given the economic decline in Georgia, import of timber in the medium term will be rather difficult because of the high price of this resource in world markets. Therefore, a policy should be created to meet a rising demand for timber in the domestic economy and for export of local wood products to other markets with due preservation of ecological, social, protective and other functions of the forests.

Thus, reforms in the following priority directions have been envisioned:

- preservation of the diversity of forest ecosystems;

- ensuring stable regeneration of forest resources;

- improvement of the relevant legal base

- training (and study visits) of personnel (forestry researchers and managers, including forestry economists and financial managers) in sustainable management, ensuring improvement of social and economic conditions of the staff;

- reform of the forestry system, by making it independent from entrepreneurial activity;

- providing condition which will attract private investments into forestry.

Stop and reverse deforestation:

A major nationwide program is needed to stop the various causes of deforestation. Sanitary logging should be carefully controlled. Sources of alternative and economically viable fuels need to be found as soon as possible. New construction projects should be sited with much more care than in the past, taking environmental factors including trees into account. Livestock grazing in forest areas needs to be carefully controlled to allow successful tree reproduction.

Bibliography

1. Urushadze, T., Loria, V., 1999. Ecological Law. Tbilisi. ISBN: 349.6+34124:502.7., 331 p.

2. Agriculture and food sector review. Subsectoral analysis. World Bank. Vol. II. August 1, 1995. 95 p.

3. Caucasus Environment Outlook (CEO). UNEP. 2002. 100 p.

4. National environmental action plan. Ministry of environment of Georgia. Tbilisi, June 2002. 45 p.