Kakhaber Sukhitashvili
Other projects
2 May 2013
Mobilize Communities Living near the River Alazani Riparian Forests and Prepare them to Assist Conservation of the Target Area
20 Apr 2015
Assessment of a Tourist Potential of the Alazani River Riparian Forests and Development of an Action Plan
The aim of the project is an ongoing ecological assessment and conservation planning of Alazani
riparian forests vegetation. We will also create conservation plan for target forests including reports for some threatened plant species from target area. The project will involve science students from a local University.
Alazani Riparian forest is one of the most endangered forest area in Georgia and in the eco-region of the Caucasus. Unsustainable use of the forest recourses provided significant degradation of these forests. However, pockets of riparian forests survived. These forests include some threatened plants species like Gymnospernium smirnowii (endemic of the Alazani river basin), Quercus longipes, Juglans regia ,Pterocarya pterocarpa and other threatened plant species.
The aim of the project are:
An ecological assessment and a conservation plan for Alazani riparian forests plant communities and key plant species.
To achieve this goal we will do the following activities:
1. Meeting with local and national stakeholders to share our objectives and expected results. We will consider their opinions, and recommendations.
2. Collecting old scientific information about Alazani Riparian forests, its vegetation and species composition, information about reigning dynamics of plant cover through space and time. We will compare old and recently gained information.
3. Exploring our target area at two levels; species level and communities’ level. After gathering required information we will create a database for all gained materials.
4. Organizing a media campaign “Save Alazani Riparian Forests” during our field activities.
5. Finally, we will create the conservation plan for Alazani riparian forests and for three key plants: Gymnospermium smirnowii, Quercus longipes and Pterocarya pterocarpa..
The key outcomes are the following:
1. Our projects will be the first environmental research project taking place in Alazani forest touching
on endangered plant diversity.
2. Will be collected Information about the direction of the forced change of local vegetation and make an ecological forecast for the future.
3. The long term contribution of our project will be: we will collect modern scientific information about plant diversity (vegetation structure and species composition) of the Alazani Riparian Forest; we will compare old and recently gained information to understand the level and implications of problems.
4. Will created conservation action plans not only for Alazani riparian forests also for the species which are included in the Georgian Red list, are protected with Convention of CITES and are considered as a rare species.