Forest

Georgian forests

Georgian forests are great national treasure. The constitution of Georgia urges all citizens to treat nature carefully with respect and accordingly the same attitude is expected to the forests an important strategic source of our country. The concept of stable management of forests in Georgia stems from understanding of ecological, economic and social importance of forests. Ecological, economic and political aspects of forest management are a part of national development strategy and stable development of the country. The purpose of stable forest management is to satisfy basic needs of the society in forest resources on the basis of scientific rational multipurpose non-depleting usage, protection and reproduction saving biologic variety of the forests. 
Georgia is one of the most ancient countries in the world, a part of the Caucasus with 5.5 million populations. The territory is 6.5 million hectares. Georgia borders Russia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east, Armenia and Turkey in the south and the Black Sea in the west. Forest areas occupy 3005.3 thousand hectares while pure forestry accounts for 2772.4 hectares which is 40% of the country's territory. The total timber resources of the world are estimated at 360 billion cubic meters, in the Georgian mountains these resources are estimated at 451.7 million cubic meters i.e. 0.13% of the world resources. Average forest density in the world is 100 square meters per hectare, in Georgia it is 163 square meters. 97% (2915.8 hectares) of Georgian forestry are situated on mountain slopes, the rest 3% are low-lying and flood plain forest in Kolhida region and in the west of Georgia. On the slopes the forests density is following 010 .5. % (165 thousand square hectares, 1120 16.5% (496 thousand hectares), 2125 16.6% (499 thousand square hectares)), 2630 18.2% (547 thousand hectares), 3135 19.6% (589 thousands hectares) 36 and higher 23.6% (710.4 hectares) Georgia defines forests according to age which might be of special interest. Mature trees dominate, 33.4 % (852.3 thousand hectares), ripe and old age plants 35.4% (904.4 thousand hectares), which gives opportunity to test and carry out regenerating measures. The tree types are distributed as follows: the beech 1060 thousand hectares. 46.6 %, the fir 161.5 thousand hectares. 7.1 %, the pine 91.0 thousand hectares. 4.0 %, the oak 241 thousand hectares. 10.6 %, the alder 125.1 thousand hectares. 5.5 %, the Chestnut 72.8 thousand hectares. 3.2 %, the hornbeam 220.6 thousand hectares 8.8 %, the Fir-tree 102.0 thousand hectares 4.5 % and other types 220.6 thousand hectares. 9.7 %. Above sea level the areas of forests are distributed in the following order: 100 m. above sea level. 2 %, 101500 m. above sea level. 5 %, 5011000 m. above sea level. 20 %, 1001 1500 m. above sea level. 35 %, 15012000 m. above sea level. 31 %, 2001ј and the rest 7 %. Distribution of the areas according to the category is the following: Reserves 168.9 above sea level. National parks 61.4 above sea level, Protected reserves 12.4 above, Forests in green zones 276.5 thousand hectares, Resort woods 119.4 thousand hectares, Soil-protective and Water-protecting forests 2366.7 thousand hectares.