On November 15, 2018, the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) presented the results of its “Study on Private Service Providers in the Organic Hazelnut Value Chain in Georgia” to stakeholders. The event was organized by HEKS-EPER South Caucasus, the ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI), and PAKKA AG, a Swiss holding.

This report covers the process and results from the value chain analysis conducted on the hazelnut sector in West Georgia. The study presents a basis to shape interventions of the forthcoming ‘Phase II: Fairtrade & Organic Hazelnut Value Chain Development for Small Farmers in Western Georgia’ project, which is to be implemented by the Consortium (ELKANA, HEKS/EPER, ANKA and PAKKA) with the financial support of DANIDA.

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.

On May 17, 2017, the Georgian government adopted amendments to the Tobacco Control Law with 85 votes in favor and only one against. This highly debated new regulation, which bans smoking in public places, was initiated by Parliament member Ms. Guguli Maghradze who just recently discussed the obesity problem in Georgia, which is caused partly by excess sugar consumption.

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.