The Legal Status of Wetlands
In the environmental protection law, wetlands are defined as separately named objects subject to protection: together with natural ecosystems, landscapes and territories, protection extends to the sea coastal zone, wetlands, spring heads, the sources of reservoirs and rivers, glaciers and caves. The wetland stands among the first-rank objects named outright — and this determines the entire regime of its use.
The Purpose of Protection and the Regime
Natural ecosystems, landscapes and territories must be protected from pollution, disturbance, damage, degradation, depletion and destruction. Any activity connected with them, and their management regime, is carried out with regard to environmental protection norms and requirements, while the questions of use and management — including land-use planning and zoning — are determined by the legislation of Georgia.
Load Norms and Licensed Use
The use of a wetland is bounded by the system of environmental-load norms: in using ecosystems, maximum admissible load norms are established, embracing quotas for the use of natural resources — under the principles of sustainable development, at the state level; quotas for individual types are established at regional and local levels. The ministry elaborates the norms once every 5 years. For a wetland this means that its development — drainage, ploughing or any other intervention — is impermissible beyond the established load.
Directly connected with the wetland ecosystem is the norm on the protection of wild plants and animals: for the self-reproduction of their resources and the maintenance of biodiversity, their removal from the environment is strictly limited and subject to licensing — except for the grant of the right to prepare timber as a result of an auction held by the forest management organ under the Forest Code. Any action that may harm the world of wild plants and animals, their habitat, breeding areas and migration routes is prohibited. Impact on a wetland’s biodiversity must be assessed precisely within this double frame — the load norms and the licensing limit.
What These Norms Do Not Contain
These norms do not define an inventory of individual wetlands or their boundaries — the detailed regulation of that sphere belongs to other legislation. Nor are concrete quota figures here — they are established by statute. For a decision connected with a concrete wetland, the current norms and licensing requirements must be verified.
Practical Recommendations
First, the wetland is named outright as an object of protection — any intervention proceeds with regard to environmental protection norms. Second, if development is contemplated, verify the load norms and quotas — they bound the scale of intervention. Third, the removal of wild species is licensable and strictly limited — any planned action on a wetland’s flora and fauna must fit this frame. Fourth, damaging the habitat, breeding areas and migration routes is directly prohibited.
Another dimension of wetlands regulation is that their protection is not confined to a single list: a wetland ecosystem is at once an element of the water cycle, a reservoir of biodiversity and an object of cultural-landscape significance. That is precisely why the law places their protection within the general frame of ecosystems: the wetland stands in the same row as the sea coastal zone, glaciers and caves — meaning its status is not secondary, and any project of its development demands special caution.
On the other hand, the practical application of wetlands regulation occurs on three levels. The first is the level of load norms: quotas determine how far the use of a wetland’s resources may go within the frame of sustainability. The second is the level of licensing: the removal of wild flora and fauna is strictly limited and requires a license, while damage to habitat, breeding areas and migration routes is prohibited outright. The third is the level of protected areas: especially valuable wetlands may be included in the system of protected areas, which gives their management a separate regime.
It is also notable that the list of wetlands in the law is presented in an open formulation — it covers wetlands, spring heads, the sources of reservoirs and rivers, glaciers and caves. This means the object of protection is not only the classic damp ecosystem but every part of the water cycle that performs a special ecological function. For the practitioner this means that assessing the legal status of any plot deemed waterlogged must always proceed by comparison with this list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked about wetlands regulations.
May a wetland be drained?
Use beyond the established load is impermissible; the load norms are set by legislation.
Does the use of flora and fauna require a licence?
Yes — licensed use is bounded by the licensing limit.
What is directly prohibited on a wetland?
Damage to the migration routes of wild fauna.
Where is the status of a wetland recorded?
In the system of protected territories, and that status determines the entire regime of use.
How We Help on Legal.ge
A wetland project is measured by status, load and licence. The lawyers of Legal.ge assist in determining the necessary demands and conformity with the load norms. Submit a request on the site and receive qualified assistance.