The meeting took place on 30 April 2024.
Meeting objectives, expected outputs and outcomes
- The aim of the meeting was to obtain stakeholder input on forest management issues within the Emerald Network and finetune the drafted Recommendations based on the received feedback.
- Guidelines would offer clear and comprehensive solutions to the various challenges posed by the requirements of the Bern Convention, as well as to the challenges the forestry sector may inevitably encounter in harmonizing their activities on Emerald sites with the Network’s standards. Hence, the primary focus of this document revolves around forest management issues in Emerald sites situated outside the national system of protected areas.
Participants
The meeting gathered around 30 participants representing Biodiversity and Forestry Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, the National Forestry Agency, the Agency of Protected Areas, research institutions, and civil society.
Background
Emerald Network is a pan-European ecological network with a goal to preserve the biodiversity of Europe. It is one of the main tools for the implementation of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern, 1979), also known as the Bern Convention. In addition to being an obligation under the Bern Convention, the development of the Emerald Network in Georgia is also required by the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.
Each Emerald Network site should have a management plan tailored to conserving and enhancing the protected species and habitats within the forested areas of the site. Thus, it is crucial for Georgia to initiate the development of management plans for designated sites situated beyond the national system of Protected Areas.