Recently, a number of municipalities in Georgia have been preparing their spatial plans with many others to follow in the course of 2019. Further to the Environmental Assessment Code of Georgia these spatial plans and other plans and programmes are to be developed at a municipal level require – prior to their adoption – carrying out a strategic environmental assessment. As the Code was only recently adopted its enforcement still requires improvements, in particular at the local level.
This workshop launched a series of training events to enhance capacities of municipal and environmental authorities of Georgia in application of SEA in accordance the Georgian Environmental Assessment Code that fully transposes requirements of the UNECE Protocol on SEA.
The participants of the workshop – from Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, National Environmental Agency, Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Tbilisi City Hall and other selected municipalities – got familiar with the main principles of efficient application of SEA in urban planning with a special focus to the screening and scoping stages. The training programme will continue in the course of 2019/2020 focusing on other SEA steps, including under the EU4Environment Action.