Taking care of the environment around us is our collective and individual responsibility. On October 20, a large clean-up event was held in Mtskheta initiated by the International School of Economics (ISET). ISET academic staff and students actively participated in the event. The location was chosen for its touristic importance, as Mtskheta is a place that attracts many visitors every year.

While listening to Wade Davis, who has been often described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity,” the subject of biosphere reserves came to my mind. This was partly because earlier this year I conducted a series of trainings on this issue with local municipality representatives in the Kakheti region, and partly because, as an economist, I see how valuable biosphere reserves can be to preserve cultural (and of course bio!) diversity.

On September 18, the Energy and Environment Center of the ISET Policy Institute participated in a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on a draft law regarding water resource management. The Business and Economics Center (BEC) organized the PPD with the Environment and Natural Resource Committee at the Parliament of Georgia with the involvement of major stakeholders of the water sector.

APRC conducted a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the Draft Law on Windbreaks and provided recommendations on policy options for implementing proposed regulation in inclusive and sustainable way.

An open call for prospective enterprises developing cleantech products, systems, processes, or services has been announced. The projects should offer solutions in the area of climate change adaption or mitigation, ecosystem services, renewable energy, water, and sanitation or urban development.