During his recent visit to Georgia, Consul Cunanan paid a formal courtesy call on Agency of Protected Areas of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and met with APA Deputy Chairman Bakur Kvaratskhelia and Mr. Davit Darsavelidze, Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Policy and International Relations.
The APA’s primary responsibility is to manage Georgia’s nature reserves, national parks, natural monuments, managed reserves, protected landscapes, biosphere reserves, world heritage sites and wetland sites of international importance. The agency seeks to improve the management of protected areas, ensure functionality of territorial administrations, supervise the process of following legally established regulations and to plan, create and develop new protected areas.
Consul Cunanan and Mr. Kvaratskhelia discussed possible Georgia – Philippines cooperation in environment protection and climate change. Specifically, Consul Cunanan said he is working on a formal relationship between the APA and the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines, which will lay the foundation for exchanges of research, communications, and visiting observer delegations. Consul Cunanan stressed that he is also keen on establishing “Sister-Park” relationships between the Philippines and Georgia, focusing on collaborative promotions and management of Philippines and Georgian ecotourism. To this end, has already held meetings with the APA’s counterparts in the Philippines, who have expressed interest to pursue the projects.
Furthermore, Consul Cunanan said that he is working closely with the Climate Change Commission of the Office of the President of the Philippines to hold a series of dialogues with the APA and Georgian public and private stakeholders to discuss the issue of global warming and possible Georgian – Philippine initiatives to counter this threat.
For his part, Mr Kvaratskhelia thanked the honorary consul for visiting and expressed his full support for the proposed projects. The APA Deputy Chairman said that these would surely strengthen and enhance closer relations between the two countries.
