Gigla Agulisvhili, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection, welcomed the first meeting of a new two-year joint project of the Ministry and FAO: Capacity Building for Sustainable Wildlife Management.

At the meeting, the legal and institutional frameworks for the management of wildlife, hunting and fishery were discussed. Participants reviewed those legal norms that directly or indirectly affect the exploitation of the fauna and the institutional environment linked to it. 

Rezo Bezhasvili, the Director of National Nursery, discussed Georgia’s wildlife resource policy. He talked about the ways of sustainable development of fauna species and how to overcome problems related to existing hunting practices. During the project, an optimal model for sustainable wildlife management that includes the hunting sector will be created for Georgia on the basis of an analysis of the best European models.

In agreement with the interested parties, land will be selected for a pilot hunting farm. The fauna of the selected territory will be inventoried based on European methodology and a plan for managing the farm will be designed. For capacity building purposes, special targeted trainings will be provided to the institutions linked to sustainable wildlife management (centrally, as well as on local level), including both the local population and the private sector.

Representatives of the Parliaments Committee for Environment and Natural Resources Protection, nongovernmental organizations and international organizations attended the meeting.