On December 10-11, 2018, at Hotel “Tbilisi Marriott”, Georgia, The Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (RECC) held Stakeholder Dialogue on RIA+ Windbreaks Draft Law.
The workshop was organized with the support of GiZ Agenda 2030 Programs as a part of RIA + Initiative in the framework of GEF/IFAD funded project: “Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the Draft Law on Windbreaks”.
Around 50 participants gather in a Stakeholder Forum to discuss interim results of the Regulatory Impact Assessment on the Windbreaks Draft Law. The stakeholder dialogue joins civil society and NGO representatives, international organizations with representatives from the Agrarian Committee of the Parliament of Georgia as well as the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture. In this two-day forum stakeholders review the linkages of the Draft Law with the achievements of nationally adapted Sustainable Development Goals and cross-check assumptions and causalities in particular with regards to matters such as climate change (SDG 7), poverty (SDG 1) and hunger reduction (SDG 2). The stakeholders critically assessed the first results of the RIA providing additional information material and valuable perspectives, particularly of marginalized and socially vulnerable groups. On the Cost-Benefits and Multi-Criteria-Analysis stakeholders stressed the need to better reflect social factors such as the rationale and needs of vulnerable groups such as shepherds, farmers with low household levels. In order to ensure a successful implementation of the respective law, it will be essential to grasp the behavior of this particular group which may not be powerful in terms of their voice being heard, but key to the protection and maintenance of windbreaks. This request echoes the principle of leave no one behind of the Agenda 2030.
The stakeholder forum is exemplary for a constructive dialogue on RIA results where different expertise perspectives, pieces of evidence and information are gathered to enrich the analysis informing the legal basis. The final RIA+ report is due in January 2019 and will be presented in an open conference.
