Meeting with the State Representative of Shida Kartli within the framework of the forestry reform
The Head of the National Forestry Agency, Besik Amiranashvili, introduced the main directions of the ongoing reform in the forestry sector to the State Representative of Shida Kartli, Simon Guledani, and representatives of local self-government.
The main goal of the forestry reform planned by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture is to improve forest protection and forest use practices, along with strengthening forest monitoring and control.
At the working meeting, the Head of the Ministry’s Forest Policy Department, Karlo Amirgulashvili, spoke about the activities planned within the framework of the reform. It was noted that the National Forestry Agency will regain the function of physical forest protection. The addition of 401 forest rangers is planned, which will reduce the area each ranger is responsible for protecting from 10–15 thousand hectares to an average of about 2,000 hectares.
“Within the framework of the forestry reform, salaries of employees of the National Forestry Agency have increased. The number of forest rangers and foresters is planned to grow. It is important that the scale of degraded forest restoration activities is increasing every year, and forest inventory work is being carried out continuously. Altogether, this will ensure improvement in both the quantitative and qualitative indicators of the country’s forests, promote the profession, support forestry education, and create additional jobs in rural areas,” said the Head of the National Forestry Agency, Besik Amiranashvili.
The Head of the National Forestry Agency also introduced the new head of the Shida Kartli Forestry Service, Mikheil Barnovi. Mikheil Barnovi has many years of experience working in public service.
