GA IN MEDIA

Georgian riot police deploy rubber bullets and tear gas in Pankisi hydropower protest. OC Media  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

Adjara authorities ‘may halt’ hydropower project after protests. OC Media  The authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, on Georgia's Black Sea coast, have said they may abandon plans to construct a hydropower plant in Machakhela

Study Finds lead in Many of Every-day Items, Toys, Spices. The Messenger A group of NGOs and specialists released the results of a study on Tuesday, which revealed that many samples taken by them were polluted with lead. 

Angry protesters block officials from HPP meeting in Georgia’s Svaneti. OC Media  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.

In pictures | Tbilisi’s dying evergreens. 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 …

Supporting Green Advocacy Platform. ewmi-access.org On February 15, leading Georgian environmental and advocacy CSOs, including Green Alternative, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), and Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) launched the first Civil Society Green Platform in Georgia with the organizational and financial support from EWMI ACCESS.

Svans ‘swear on icons’ to oppose gold mine. OC Media  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.

Environmental activists celebrate win in 6-year battle against Vake Park hotel. 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.

Tbilisi Gov’t Vows Better Air in Capital. The Messenger On October 31, Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi Maia Bitadze stated that from 2019 Tbilisi City hall will start controlling the air conditioning in the capital city. As Bitadze said City Hall is planning to address the main reason for air pollution – construction.

Lead: Georgia’s silent killer. OC Media  Georgians’ abnormal levels of exposure to lead show that the food they eat and the air they breathe might be toxic — all while the authorities seem reluctant to address the problem.