Environmental Considerations for Land Management and Use in Georgia

Prepared for South Caucasus Regional Land Policy Conference (24-26 February 2003)

Environmental pollution from agriculture (agricultural run-off) belongs to the non-point (diffusion) sources of pollution.

The main environmental problems associated with Georgian agriculture and land use are soil erosion and the irrational use of chemicals.  

Georgia’s Law on Environmental Protection of December 1996 required the development of a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), consistent with the requirements of the National framework environmental legislation. The NEAP aims to provide the basis for integrating environmental considerations into government decisions.  It attempts to define the points where the environment interacts with other aspects of the Georgian economy.  It identifies current and potential sources of pollution that threaten human health and the environment, sets out priority actions designed to deal with such threats, and defines short-term and long-term goals for environmental management, regulatory policy and institutional development.  It includes plans for enhancing the sense of public responsibility by increasing public awareness of environmental issues.

Agricultural land covers approximately 3 million hectares in Georgia.   Annex 1 gives a detailed breakdown according to specific uses.  Nearly 35% of this land is susceptible to water or wind erosion.  This figure includes 380,000 hectares of arable land, 570,000 hectares of pasture and hayfields, and 87,000 hectares in the Black Sea coastal zone, which is subject to littoral erosion by unconfined rivers.  It is likely that much of the land has been degraded and contaminated through oil contamination and the excess use of agricultural chemicals, although the exact extent is not known.  In Eastern Georgia, where rainfall is sometimes not sufficient for agriculture, rivers are being over-abstracted to provide irrigation.

Over-grazing is a serious problem in mountain areas, where it results in land erosion, and in the Eastern part of Georgia, where it results in desertification.

Almost 40% of Georgia is covered in forest.  The forests are a unique source of biodiversity, and a major economic resource.  They are situated mainly on steep mountain slopes, and fulfill an important function in preventing soil erosion.  The forests are mainly deciduous, with oriental beech a prevalent species.  They provide habitats for many rare and endangered plant and animal species, many of them endemic or glacial relics.

Most harvesting of Georgia’s forest is illegal.  There is substantial harvesting underway however, mainly for local consumption as firewood, for the local wood-processing industry, or as logs for export. 

The priority problems identified in the use of land resources in NEAP were following:

·      Contamination of soils by agricultural chemicals;

·      Contamination of agricultural soils by industrial and domestic wastes;

·      Soil erosion;

·      Contamination of agricultural land by sea water;

·      Contamination of agricultural land by previous and existing farms;

·      Degrading of forests and forestry land;

·      Inoperable irrigation and drainage system.

Irrigated agriculture is not usually provided with drainage collector circuits.  Water resources are not protected adequately from the leaching of toxic or hazardous agrochemicals from their storage sites.

One of potential polluters is sewage from livestock and poultry fields and facilities. At present, the majority of the farms do not operate, but this problem will become very real after restoration of livestock poultry farming in Georgia.

The main user of water resources in Georgia is still agriculture.   In 1996, the irrigation systems under operation collected 1,473 million m³ of surface water, 90% of which was located in East Georgia (the Mtkvari river basin). 66% of this quantity was used directly for irrigation, whereas the remaining part was lost. In 1996, 306,000 hectares of agricultural land were irrigated, 87% of which in East Georgia. On average, each hectare of irrigated land receives about 1,000 m³/yr of water.

The present condition of pesticide and fertilizer storage facilities in the region is also in very poor condition. There is no data available about the present state of pollution by surplus nutrients.