Natural resources, such as land, water, air, minerals, forests, and fisheries, all provide fundamental life support, in the form of both public-good and consumptive services, which also greatly affect the quality of human life. As such, a proper Natural Resource Management (NRM) allows for the sustainable utilization of resources and moreover ensures that the services provided continue to be accessible over time.

On 15 June 2021, the National Statistics Office of Georgia published its annual publication for the agricultural sector - Agriculture of Georgia 2020. According to the publication, agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised 8.4% of GDP in 2020, higher than the 7.2% share in 2019, but in line with the general trend over the last five years (agricultural GDP comprising on average 7-8% of GDP).

Hazelnuts are one of Georgia’s top ten export commodities. During 2010-2020, hazelnuts accounted for around 4.4% of Georgia’s total exports (GeoStat, 2021). In 2013, the quantity of exported hazelnuts hit its maximum level at 30 ths tons, then decreased to 19 ths tons in the following years with an increase in the value indicating higher prices per exported kg of Georgian hazelnuts. In 2016, the quantity of exported hazelnuts amounted to 27 ths tons, which was the second highest indicator in the observed years (2010-2020) (Figure 1).

Hosted and moderated by ISET Policy Institute’s Salome Gelashvili, Acting Head of the Agricultural and Rural Development Policy Research Center, the German Sparkassenstiftung Southern Caucasus and Ukraine (DSIK) have recently developed a presentation looking into their Climate Risk Pattern Analysis in Georgia.

We were thrilled to see Salome Gelashvili, head of the ISET-PI Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC), actively participate in a UNDP Georgia online discussion. During the virtual roundtable (entitled Local Economic Development and Business Friendly Environment for Municipalities), a variety of notable international speakers, particularly utilizing Czech expertise, came together to consider business development, combatting the rural-urban divide, and the effect of COVID-19 on the informal sector.