Over the past few years, food prices have been increasing and Georgia has been facing food price inflation in the double digits. This is primarily due to international market trends that reflect concerns over decreased production, increased crude oil prices, as well as COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine increased pressure on international food markets already struggling with soaring prices.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine profoundly impacted the global economy, immediately sending shockwaves across the globe. The attack of a country that was once a major energy supplier to Europe on the country which was one of the top food exporters in the world, sent food and fuel prices spiraling, causing major energy shortages and the prospect of protracted recession in the United States and the European Union.

The "Local Economic Development (LED) in Georgia" project, implemented by a consortium led by HELVETAS and commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), aims to strengthen Georgian actors’ involvement in LED. Moreover, it incorporates an overarching objective “to contribute to increasing employment and income of rural women and men in their localities by enhancing effective collaboration among local and national actors (public, private, civil society) for the creation of new economic opportunities.”

Pollution is an existential threat to modern society, one which endangers both human and planetary health. It includes contaminating the air with ozone, sulfur, nitrogen-containing nitrous oxides, and delicate particulate matter (PM2.5). Reduction of air pollution is a key aspect of Green Growth, which, together with attaining the goals of the Paris Agreement, could save around a million lives a year worldwide by 2050 (Rijsberman, 2019).

The third quarter of 2022 was marked by a “perfect storm” of global challenges. Due to the ongoing geopolitical, economic, and ecological turbulence, with inflation reaching its highest point in decades, the world economy remains volatile.