$32 Mln Project to Help Prevent Climatic Threats in Georgia

A new project, amounted to $32 million in total, and aimed to contribute to the prevention or diminution of the destructive consequences of natural disasters across the country, is set to be carried out in Georgia.

The new initiative will firstly be implemented in the region of Ajara, representing the zone of the highest risks in terms of natural disasters, where geological and hydrological maps of high precision will be produced. The program will next expand to the rest of the country and include the instalment of early warning systems in the different regions of Georgia. The process of installment of the given systems has already been commenced and launched in the basin of the River Vere in Tbilisi and in the Devdoraki Gorge in the north of the country.

Nino Tandilashvili, the Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, stated that this is the first project of such an impressive scale ever carried out in Georgia regarding the mitigation of the risks of climatic threats and strongly focused in its importance.

“This is a 7-year project. In case of its successful implementation, nearly 1.4 million residents of the country will be better protected from natural disasters and their negative consequences,”- said Tandilasvhili.

The Deputy Minister also noted that it is planned to collaborate with the higher education institutions of the country within these seven years, in order to train the new generation of geologists, hydrologists, and meteorologists

The project has been financed by the government of Switzerland by $5 million and Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism under the UNFCCC, which has allocated $27 million.

By Ketevan Kvaratskheliya

Image source: kvirispalitra.ge