Saving Rioni Valley

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Members Saving Rioni Valley movement holding up a banner that reads 'Racha is not for sale' in against the sale of Racha forests to a private company. Shota Kincha/OC Media.

Environment

Georgian government revokes controversial Racha hunting license

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•1 min read

On Tuesday, Georgia’s National Environment Agency revoked a license granting a private company the right to establish a hunting farm in a 1,000 square kilometre area of forests in Racha. The land was auctioned off to HG Capra Caucasica, a limited liability company owned by Davit Khidasheli, in April 2022. Khidasheli is a Russia-based businessman with reported ties to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party. Georgia’s Environment Agency announced tha

Environment

Eleven detained at Racha forest protest in Tbilisi

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

A group of environmental activists opposing the commercialisation of public lands in Racha were detained on Saturday and face future trial after peacefully protesting outside Georgia’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. Police detained 11 people on 18 November on charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying police, including a number of the protest’s leaders. The protest campaign, led by the grassroots Saving Rioni Valley movement, moved to Tbilisi earlier on Saturday aft

The Enguri hydropower plant. Shota Kincha/OC Media.

Envrionment

Podcast | Going against the flow: Georgia’s controversial hydropower plants

by OC Media

•2 min read

Georgia generates a staggering 85% of its electricity through hydropower plants; however, while further exploitation of Georgia’s hydropower potential sounds promising on paper, local activists and researchers say that a lack of feasibility and safety research before the construction of hydropower plants could pose significant risks. This week on the Caucasus Digest, Hannah O’Sullivan, an energy researcher, talks about the present and future role of hydropower in Georgia.

Protesters in a tent outside parliament. 5 October 2023. Image: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media

Alt Info

Georgian Dream pass new anti-protest amendments

by Shota Kincha

•4 min read

Georgia’s ruling party has passed controversial amendments to the country’s law on protest, which critics warn will severely restrict freedom of assembly. The amendments were proposed following claims by the country’s security service that international groups aimed to incite violent civil unrest in the country later this year. On Thursday, the parliamentary majority passed the bill in its third reading. The bill was approved with 74 votes in favour and 20 votes against. Hours before the fi

Nenskra river, Svaneti. Image: Shota Kincha/OC Media

energy policy

Georgia’s ‘zombie’ hydropower projects

by Shota Kincha

•18 min read

As Georgia’s government promises to resume the construction of controversial hydropower plants (HPPs) in western Georgia, local people remain determined to fight against changes they believe could leave their land and livelihoods at risk. ‘I would have never imagined the topic of its construction would pop up again’, says Magda Guledani. In March 2018, Guledani was in her third trimester of pregnancy when she lay on the ground in front of construction equipment in the northwestern Georgian t

Anti-Namakhvani protest in Tbilisi. Photo: Shota Kincha/OC Media.

Georgia

Anti-Namakhvani leaders vow to paralyse Tbilisi

by Shota Kincha

•4 min read

Protesters opposed to the construction of the Namakhvani hydropower plant in northwest Georgia have vowed to paralyse Tbilisi demanding the cancellation of the controversial project. On Sunday, thousands gathered in the Georgian capital, setting up tents to block First Republic Square. By Monday, a smaller number of protesters marched from Republic Square to Freedom Square, which was closed off to traffic in preparation for Independence Day celebrations on 26 May. Protesters moved to Tb