Firewood is the main source of heating in Georgia. In order to ensure the sustainable use of forest resources, Georgia is participating in the program “Management of natural resources and safeguarding of ecosystem services for sustainable rural development in the South Caucasus” (ECOserve). In order to comply with the ECOserve project guidelines, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) is currently setting up a modern National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS). Reliable forest data is crucial for this purpose. UNIQUE is supporting the implementation of the first Georgian National Forest Inventory (NFI), the establishment of statistically-sound Forest Management Inventories (FMI), and the development of a Forest Information and Monitoring System (FIMS).

• Technical support to the National Forest Inventory.
• Backstopping the Forest Management Inventory pilot process in the district Akhmeta.
• Development and implementation of an Forest Information and Monitoring process.
• Overall coordination of NFI, FMI and FIMS processes.