In the present era of environmental and industrial change, maintaining biodiversity is essential. Doing so not only protects species and habitats, but also brings benefits for society in the form of resulting ecosystem services. In order to conserve biodiversity and fulfill the obligations defined by various international conventions and the Association Agreement (AA), the Georgian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource Protection (MoENRP) initiated the Law on Biodiversity in 2015.

On February 23, ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) hosted a final dissemination event under the “Strengthening Entrepreneurial Training in the Formal TVET System” project, implemented within the small grants scheme of the Millennium Challenge Account – Georgia, and funded by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Recently, the administration of Tbilisi City Hall announced that the Tbilisi taxi market is going to be regulated. The process of switching to a regulatory frame will be gradual. At first, taxi drivers will be obliged to acquire taxi signs and permission from the appropriate authorities. This regulation is not expected to create significant pressure on taxi service providers. At the second stage, however, taxi drivers will be required to pass a technical inspection and satisfy minimal quality standards.

ISET continues its student policy seminar series, this time with Mariam Katsadze, Mariam Dvalishvili, Tsotne Marghia, Elene Ghviniashvili, and Giorgi Nebulishvili presenting their research results under the supervision of Eric Livny, President of ISET, and Yaroslava Babych, head of the Macroeconomic Policy Research Center, at the ISET Policy Institute.

On Monday, January 22, the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) presented the results of the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the Draft Law of Georgia on Biodiversity to the stakeholders.