On 31 October, Secretary of the Georgian Dream Industrial Party faction, Zurab Tkemaladze, presented various legislative bills during the plenary session of the Parliament. The deputy focused upon the biodiversity of the country. According to him: “Georgia is still among the 15 countries rich in biodiversity. There used to be 25 and now only 15 are left. We have to take care of this.”

FactCheck

took interest in Georgia’s biodiversity and verified Mr Tkemaladze’s statement.

After clarifying the statement, it became clear that the MP referred to biodiversity hotspots.

According to the official information of the Biodiversity Clearinghouse Mechanism of Georgia, Georgia, as a part of the Caucasus region, is included in the 200 global ecoregions list of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Based upon the importance and danger of the extinction of biodiversity, there are 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world today. The territory of Georgia is included within these biodiversity hotspots; precisely, in the Caucasus (the major part of Georgia) and in the Iran-Anatolia (Southern Georgia) regions.

In Georgia, as throughout the world, the biggest threats

to biodiversity are the degradation and loss of habitats (the most increasing component of the habitat extinction is timber logging), the unsustainable usage of biological resources and environmental pollution.

In 1994, Georgia joined the Biodiversity Convention created in 1992. The member countries are required to develop respective strategies for conservation and the sustainable usage of biological resources in accordance with the strategy of the Biodiversity Convention. In addition, the benefit received from biodiversity should be fairly distributed.

Georgia approved the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Protection in 2005. The document defines biodiversity conservation, a ten-year sustainable usage strategy and a five-year plan for specific actions.

The National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Protection was updated in 2011. The 2014-2020 National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Protection for Georgia was approved by Resolution № 343 of 8 May 2014 of the Government of Georgia. The resolution notes that the Caucasus region is one of the most prominent by its biodiversity. Georgia is included in two of the 34 hotspots; namely, in the Caucasus and Iran-Anatolia hotspot regions, as defined by Conservation International.

There are 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world and various sources point this out. We also addressed Zurab Tkemaladze to provide us with the source based upon which he stated that the number of biodiversity countries decreased from 25 to 15. During his conversation with us, Mr Tkemaladze explained that he was referring to biodiversity hotspots and provided us with his information source

as well. The reference provided indeed shows 34 biodiversity hotspots where the Caucasus, including the territory of Georgia, is marked № 15 although the fact that the number of hotspots decreased from 25 to 15 is not confirmed.

Conclusion

The Caucasus, including the territory of Georgia, is considered to be one of the most prominent regions of biodiversity. It is included in the 200 global ecoregions list of the WWF. Thirty-four biodiversity hotspots are recognised today (biologically the richest and at the same time the most endangered land ecoregions). Georgia is included in two hotspots – the Caucasus and Iran-Anatolia regions.

The context of Mr Tkemaladze’s statement about the global importance of Georgia’s biodiversity is correct. FactCheck

also shares the pathos of his statement according to which biodiversity is in need of protection. The facts point out, however, that biodiversity hotspots include 34 regions and not 15 countries. Moreover, the decrease in the number of the aforementioned regions is not confirmed.

FactCheck concludes Zurab Tkemaladze’s statement to be HALF TRUE.