(Tamuna Chkareuli / OC Media)
The former Soviet industrial centre of Rustavi has long been perceived as a city of factories. Spewing toxic fumes into their surroundings, the factories have led to ‘alarming’ levels of air pollution in the city — and local activists, backed by the city council, are getting fed up. [Read more…]
(UNICEF Georgia)
High levels of lead have been found among children in Georgia in a nation-wide study from UNICEF. [Read more…]
(Vafa Zeynalova/OC Media)
The fight against plastic waste in Azerbaijan entered a new stage late last year after the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources announced the possible adoption of a law against plastic bags use. But while the Ministry of Environment sees the solution as being through private and public initiatives, the general public expects regulatory actions from the authorities. [Read more…]
(Illustration: Dato Parulava/ OC Media)
A pitched battle between protesters and riot police in Georgia’s Pankisi Valley has undone years of work to build trust with a community that has been historically marginalised. The government needs to prioritise a more participatory approach to regional development over business interests.
Riot police in Birkiani in Pankisi Valley (Sulkhan Bordzikashvili /Facebook)
Riot police have deployed rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters in northeast Georgia’s Pankisi Valley after local residents tried to prevent the resumption of work on a hydropower plant in the valley.
(Imedi TV)
Residents of Lentekhi, the municipal centre of Georgia’s historical Lower Svaneti region, have thwarted a government-organised meeting planned to discuss the environmental impact assessment report of a hydropower plant project in the region. [Read more…]
(Tamuna Chkareuli/OC Media)
As the trees on Tbilisi’s periphery have began to turn orange and die, struck by parasites and bark fungi spreading throughout the city, Tbilisi City Hall has begun a massive tree cutting and treatment programme. But environmental activists say there is more that can be done to save Tbilisi’s last green areas. [Read more…]
24 February meeting of Svan activists in Tbilisi (/Svaneti Youth Movement)
Over 200 people gathered in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Sunday for a meeting in opposition to a gold mine in the village of Ieli, in the historical mountain region of Svaneti.
The current road to Tusheti (Robin Fabbro / OC Media)
Georgian authorities have said they are likely to scrap most of a controversial mountain road project which would have connected Georgia’s northern Khevi region with the northeastern Tusheti region, through Khevsureti and linking up with the Pankisi valley. [Read more…]
Vake Park (Dato Parulava / OC Media)
Green activists and their supporters gathered in Vake Park in Tbilisi on 27 January to celebrate the end of an almost six-year battle to halt construction of a hotel in the park. [Read more…]
