INTRODUCTION
Anna Giorgi – Director of UNIMONT Centre, President of the Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation and Sustainable Development of Mountain Areas and President of the Master’s Degree in Valorization and Sustainable Development of Mountain Areas
RELATOR
Noe Khozrevanidze – Managing Director of Georgian Technical University
CONTENTS
The mountainous country of the Caucasus – Georgia is distinguished by its natural diversity in the world, where more than 70 natural landscapes are represented, starting with humid subtropics and ending with nival landscapes from sea level to 5200 meters (the average height of the country’s terrain is 1508 meters). Natural landscapes occupy 20 percent of the land area of the country.
According to the number of landscapes, Georgia ranks first in Europe and 12th in the world. Mountains in Georgia occupy 85 percent of the country’s land area. The main natural resources of the mountain are: alpine natural meadows – 2 million hectares, the same number of hectares of natural forests, mountain water resources (26,000 mountain rivers of different sizes), 16 climatic zones, 44 soil types and 4500 plant species, (21 percent of endemism). 99 percent of the country’s protected areas are in the mountains, which is 15 percent of the country’s area.
QUESTION AND DISCUSSION