The scope and aims of forest law
The Forest Code of Georgia regulates legal relations connected with forest management. The Code's aims unfold in four directions: the protection of the biodiversity of Georgia's forests and the maintenance and improvement of their qualitative characteristics, and of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of forest resources, for the performance of the ecological, social and economic functions of the forest; the preservation for future generations of the self-sufficient natural and cultural environment — including the vegetative cover and the animal world, monuments of nature and culture in the forest, rare and endangered plant species and other values — and the harmonious regulation of their interaction; the purposeful and rational use of forest resources and other natural potential; and the definition of the basic principles of forest management on which sustainable forest management must rest.
These aims show well the triple character of forest law: the forest is at once an ecological, a social and an economic value, and the law seeks the concord of all three. As a cradle of biodiversity the forest demands protection; as a resource, rational use; and as a common space, fairness toward future generations.
The system of terms — what counts as forest
The Code's definitions set the substantive boundaries of forest law. The forest of Georgia is the totality of forests of state, municipal and private ownership and their resources. A forest is considered to be a territory covered by forest-forming species — an area of at least 10 m width and at least 0.5 hectares of land covered by one or several species of forest-forming woody plant, where the stand density per unit of area is not less than 0.1 — as well as other territory within the forest contour that is an integral part of the forest ecosystem, including open lands used as hay meadows or pastures, special-purpose lands, lands containing a swamp, cliff or scree within the forest, and infrastructure needed for forestry measures.
At the same time the law directly names what is not a forest: a garden, a square or a park outside the forest contour; a windbreak strip; a territory used for short-term rotation up to 30 years from the planting of forest-forming species (a plantation); an arboretum of woody species and other plantations. This negative list is as important as the positive one: without it, it remains unknown whether the forest regime extends to a particular plot of land.
The Code also explains forest resources in detail: they unite timber and non-timber resources; non-timber resources include mushrooms, medicinal raw materials, technical raw materials and other herbaceous plants and their parts, and parts of shrubs and their products that contain no wood. The grading of round timber is also definitional — categories are distinguished by the diameter of the large end. These details are a working instrument for establishing the regime under which a particular resource is used.
The system of legislation
Forest legislation consists of the Constitution, international treaties, the National Forest Concept, the Forest Code, other legislative acts and subordinate normative acts adopted on their basis. Issues of the protection of species and habitats in the forest, as well as of access to forest genetic resources and the fair distribution of benefits, are regulated by a separate legislative act, unless the Code provides otherwise. Within a protected area, forest management issues are regulated by the Code, unless the Law on the System of Protected Areas provides otherwise. The Code's application also extends to forest relations within the administrative boundaries of the Tbilisi municipality, unless legislation provides otherwise.
A special accent falls on environmental assessment: where an activity requiring special use of the forest is subject to environmental impact assessment, the respective decision is adopted in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Code; a renewed norm entering into force from 1 September 2026 also names, in the same context, the integrated environmental permit provided for by the Law on Industrial Emissions. Forest use thus often falls at the intersection of two codes — the Forest Code and that of environmental assessment.
The principles of sustainable management
The sustainable management of Georgia's forest, taking into account its ecological, social and economic functions, must rest on the following principles: management must use methods that ensure the maintenance and improvement of the forest's biodiversity, productivity, self-regeneration and viability; planning must take into account the functional designation of the forest, so that benefit from one function does not cause the degradation of another; decision-making must be based on sustainable management in considering the interests of the local population, and access to the forest for everyone must be ensured for the purpose of common use; and the use of the forest for non-forestry purposes must be accompanied by compensation measures defined by legislation, with the exceptions established by the Code.
The very definition of sustainable management is prominent: it is the management and use of the forest in such a way and volume that its biodiversity, productivity, capacity for regeneration, viability and potential are preserved, so that the ecological, social and economic functions of the forest are fulfilled now and in the future at local, national and global levels, and other ecosystems are not damaged. The international roots of these principles are visible: the law associates them with the documents following the 1992 Rio de Janeiro conference of the United Nations. Assessment of and reporting on sustainable management are carried out on the basis of criteria and indicators defined by the respective statute, which rest on the criteria adopted by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe; the statute is developed by the ministry and approved by the Government.
What this means for the practitioner
At the introductory level of forest law three conclusions stand out. First: the substantive boundaries begin with the definitions — before any regime is discussed, it must be established whether the plot is a forest in the sense of the law. Second: the system of legislation is multi-layered — the Code, separate acts, the Law on Protected Areas and the Environmental Assessment Code interact with one another. Third: the principles of sustainability are not a declaration but a frame for defining management decisions — through the balance of functions, the interests of the population and compensation.