Political crisis and EU uncertainty threaten Georgia’s environment, stifling activism amid development pressures.
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Georgia’s path toward EU membership is stalled due to democratic backsliding, characterized by erosion of rule of law and restrictions on fundamental rights, leading the European Commission to view it as only nominally a candidate country. This political crisis has severely damaged the Georgian environmental movement through laws like the foreign agents act, which threatens NGOs with stigmatization and loss of international funding, while the government simultaneously lowers environmental standards for development projects. Key environmental concerns include construction threatening biodiversity in the Chorokhi River delta, unchecked pollution along the Black Sea coast, climate change impacts such as glacier melting and groundwater depletion, and risks posed by new hydroelectric plans. The environmental movement is being pushed out of political advocacy, raising fears that without external support, Georgia faces significant ecological catastrophe despite its strategic importance to European environmental security.
