TITLE : ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND CONSTRAINT S IN THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS : Chapter 13: Georgia AUTHOR: LYNN RICHARD S THE NATIONAL COUNCI L FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE VIII PROGRA M 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, N .W . Washington, D .C . 20036 PROJECT INFORMATION :* CONTRACTOR : San Diego State University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Philip R . Pryd e COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 807-04 DATE : August, 24, 199 4 COPYRIGHT INFORMATIO N Individual researchers retain the copyright on work products derived from research funded b y Council Contract. The Council and the U .S. Government have the right to duplicate written report s and other materials submitted under Council Contract and to distribute such copies within th e Council and U.S. Government for their own use, and to draw upon such reports and materials fo r their own studies; but the Council and U.S. Government do not have the right to distribute, o r make such reports and materials available, outside the Council or U .S. Government without th e written consent of the authors, except as may be required under the provisions of the Freedom o f Information Act 5 U.S.C. 552, or other applicable law . The work leading to this report was supported in part by contract funds provided by the National Council fo r Soviet and East European Research, made available by the U. S. Department of State under Title VIII (the Soviet - Eastern European Research and Training Act of 1983) . The analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those of the author. NCSEER NOTE This report is part of a Council funded research project entitled Environmental Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republics . Twenty one reports, listed below , resulting from this project will be distributed seriatim by the Council, and will collectivel y become the chapters of a book to be published in 1994 by Westview Press . Eighteen of the 2 1 (written by other authors) deal with the fifteen former republics, and three (written by Dr . Philip R. Pryde, the Principal Investigator) are summarizing reports . Chapter 1 : The Environmental Implications of Republic Sovereignty . (Pryde) Chapter 2: Russia - An Overview of the Federation . (Pryde) Chapter 3: European Russia . (Kochurov) Chapter 4: The Urals and Siberia. (Scherbakova & Monroe) Chapter 5: The Russian Far East. (Strand) Chapter 6: Estonia. (Soot) Chapter 7: Latvia. (Dreifelds) Chapter 8: Lithuania. (Kritkausky) Chapter 9: Ukraine. (Stebelsky) Chapter 10: Environmental Management in Ukraine . (Freeman) Chapter 11: Belarus. (Cherp & Kovaleva) Chapter 12: Moldova. (Dinu & Rowntree ) Chapter 13: Georgia. (Richards) Chapter 14: Armenia. (Valesyan) Chapter 15: Azerbaijan. (Wolfson & Daniell) Chapter 16: Kazakhstan. (Smith) Chapter 17: Turkmenistan. (Micklin) Chapter 18: Uzbekistan. (Lubin) Chapter 19: Kyrgyzstan. (Braden) Chapter 20: Tajikistan. (Eicher) Chapter 21 : The View to the Future. (Pryde) Environmental Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republic s Georgia Lynn Richards Executive Summary The following paragraphs summarize the main contents and conclusions of a chapter o n Georgia, which has been prepared as part of a larger work on the environmental an d economic-geographic situation in each of the former Soviet republics . The full study, edited by Philip R. Pryde, will be published by Westview Press under the title "Environmenta l Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republics . Funding assistance from the National Council for Soviet and East European Research is acknowledged with appreciation . In this chapter, the history, physical geography and ethnography of Georgia is briefly summarized, followed by a survey of its main economic resources and any significan t environmental constraints (climatic, geomorphologic, etc .) that affect the country' s development. The contemporary state of the development of industry and agriculture within th e republic is reviewed, with a focus on the environmental disruption that has resulted from thi s development. The current situation with regard to biotic preservation is also reviewed , including the establishment of nature reserves and parks, and the potential for ecotourism . The administrative structure for environmental management within the country is also briefl y examined, as are non-governmental environmental efforts by the Georgian Greens and others . Particular discussion is directed to the ethnic conflicts that currently exist within Georgia , as well as to such environmental problems as air and water pollution, loss of biotic resources , poor agricultural practices, and pollution of the Black Sea. Georgia's energy supply problem s are also reviewed . The main conclusion of the chapter is that the future of Georgia is heavily dependent o n finding an acceptable solution to the ethnic conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia . If this can be done, Georgia's future could be quite promising, as it has adequate natural resources, goo d human resources, and an exceptional potential for attracting international tourism . Philip R . Pryde, June 6, 1994 Chapter 13 . GEORGIA Lynn Richards Georgia (which refers to itself as the Sakartvelos Respublika) is the westernmost of th e three Transcaucasian republics of the former Soviet Union, and the only one of the three fronting on the Black Sea . It includes, under Soviet classification, two autonomous republics , Abkhazia and Ajaria, and one autonomous region, South Ossetia (Figure 13 .1) . Georgia is home to an ancient civilization, and its Black Sea coast was well known i n Roman times . A Georgian state dates from the fourth century BC, and Christianity wa s introduced in the fourth century AD . For the next millennium and a half, Georgia wa s occupied alternately by Persians, Turks, and Mongols, with only brief periods o f independence. In 1801, the core of the country came under the control of Tsarist Russia . Georgia was briefly independent from 1917 to 1921, but was forcibly joined to the USSR i n 1922 . Unfortunately, considerable ethnic unrest and armed conflict exists in two of Georgia' s three autonomous regions as this chapter is being prepared; only Ajaria remains peaceful . Because of the internal instability, Georgia has not yet been able to stabilize its economy as o f 1994. The environmental situation in Georgia stands out as one of the silent victims of the social and political strife in that country. Since 1991, some forms of pollution have temporarily decreased because of fuel shortages, ethnic conflicts, and consequent economic downturns . However, with few exceptions, rather little attention has been given to the environmenta l consequences of the collapse of the nation's political, economic and social infrastructures . Contemporary Ethnic Conflicts Georgia is characterized by tremendous ethnic diversity . Of Georgia's 5 .4 million people, 70.1% are Georgians (who traditionally refer to themselves as "Kartveli"), 8 .1 % Armenians, 6 .3% Russian, 5 .7% Azeris, 3 .0% Ossetians, 1 .8% Abkhaz, and less than one percent Ajar. The 1989 census counted 14 officially recognized national minorities in Georgia , nine of which represented more than 30,000 people (see Table 13 .1) . Ethnic conflicts have long plagued Georgia . Presently, the Abkhazians and Ossetian s present the most organized independence movements . Over the past seventy years, Georgia' s minorities have lacked equal access to political and economic power and faced social an d educational disadvantages, despite stated Soviet ethnic equalization policies . The result of thes e policies are being felt today as Georgia undergoes ethnic and nationality crises . 1 Table 13 .1 . Major ethnic groups in Georgi a 1989 pop'n Percent of Dominant in Georgia total Georgia n Ethnic group religion (1000s) pop'n (1989) Georgians Georgian Christian 3787 70 . 1 Armenians Armenian Apostolic 437 8 . 1 Russians Eastern Orthodox 341 6 . 3 Azerbaijani Shiite Moslem 308 5 . 7 Ossetians East . Orthodox ; Islam 164 3 . 0 Greeks Greek Orthodox 100 1 . 9 Abkhaz Islam; East. Orthodox 96 1 . 8 Ukrainians Eastern Orthodox 52 1 . 0 Ajars Sunni Moslem 30-50 <1 . 0 (Others) 50-100 1 + Georgia, total Georgian Christian 5449 100 Sources : Wixman, 1984 ; Schwartz, 1991 . Problems in Ossetia intensified in December of 1990 when regional elections wer e organized to form a new South Ossetian parliament . That same month, Zviad Gamsakhurdia , then president of Georgia, abolished the South Ossetian Autonomous region, arrested South Ossetian leaders and declared a state of emergency . Since then, a civil war, exacerbated by th e introduction of Russian Interior Ministry troops, has produced close to 100,000 refugees wh o have fled South Ossetia to North Ossetia or other parts of Russia (Jones, p . 31) . As of 1994 , the situation remains tense and unsettled . However, the conflict in Abkhazia has taken precedence over problems in South Osseti a and saps most of Georgia's political and social energy . While the Abkhazians represent only about 18% of the total population in the autonomous republic, they hold the majority of the seats in the local government through the old electoral laws established during the Stalin era . Vladislav Ardzinba (Rdinba), elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1989, began t o govern in Abkhazia without the consent of Parliament in 1991 (Chagelishvili, interview) . In protest, the Georgian representatives stopped attending the sessions and tensions escalated . From December 1991 to January 1992 during the Georgian civil war, President Gamsakhurdia