The State of the Environment of 2014-2017 in Georgia (SOeR) is published on the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.

The SOeR 2014-2017 was developed in accordance with Article 14 of the Law of Georgia on Environmental Protection and Approval of the Rule on Preparation of the National Report on the State of the Environment. This report is an assessment of the state of the environment, which is produced every four years and aims to inform decision-makers for developing result-oriented environmental policy and provide society and the general public with detailed information on Georgia’s environment. The SOeR 2014-2017 covers atmospheric air, water resources, land resources and soil, mineral resources and biodiversity, as well as important environmental issues, risks, challenges, solutions, impact of economic sectors on the ecosystem and environmental governance in the country.

The Georgian government amended Ordinance N337 on Approval of the Rule on Preparation of the National Report on the State of the Environment. The amendment proposes the new structure and content of the SOeR, based on Slovakia’s experience of reporting on the state of the environment under the ENI SEIS II East project. This has improved environmental governance and provided a better response to the national, regional and international environmental agendas.

The ENI SEIS II East project activities use the EEA’s knowledge and expertise of best national practices in EU Member States and in Eionet. In this project the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Environment Agency have played key roles in knowledge transfer and institutional capacity building. This has included:

• providing technical assistance, hands-on training sessions and expert visits in the six Eastern Partnership countries and sharing experience to harmonise data and indicators with international and EU standards;
• promoting common approaches to regular environmental reporting (tools, information systems, regionally agreed indicators and assessment reports);
• strengthening the regular production of environmental indicators and assessments and contributing towards knowledge-based policymaking and good governance in the field of the environment in the Eastern Partnership region;
• ensuring that all activities are in line with national and EU environmental legislation and EU and Eionet best practices.