The villagers of Tsintskaro village have suffered for years from the twice yearly flow of more than 100,000 sheep, cattle, goats, donkeys, horses and shepherd dogs straight past their gates. The problem has been in impasse for years with no real ownership of the issue by the myriad actors involved. Now, the local government has spearheaded the movement to solve the problem calling together support from a group including the MOA, MOE, the Regional Government and Shepherds Association which has been working for three years to improve coordination and bring the matter of the Animal Movement Route to public attention.
Transhumance is a major part of the livestock system for sheep and to a lesser extent cattle in Georgia. Approximately 300,000 animals move twice yearly, up to summer pasture and back down to winter pasture on long established routes in spring and early autumn. For residents of Tsintskaro Village, Tetritskaro municipality this has meant living with a three week long flood of animals moving through the village. The route usually passes around settlements but a rocky ravine has meant that there was no access for the flocks other than the main road through the village. The obstruction, noise and dirt makes life intolerable for the villagers who can barely leave their homes and it is far from pleasant for the Shepherds and animals themselves as they are harassed by beeping cars as they move through flock after flock as quickly as they can.
The issue was recently publicized in the Eco Films Documentary ‘The Road’ (please follow the link) which has further publicized the plight of the village, the problems encountered by the Shepherds and the importance of the route and the movement of animals for the agricultural sector in Georgia. Luckily excellent coordination, the result of years of facilitation between local government, regional government, relevant Ministries, the private sector and the Shepherds Association through a regional Advisory Committee, has led to the commencement of work on a 4150 meters long, bypass route.
The work will include removing vegetation and establishing a road through the rocky ravine as well as signposting the route and fencing crop land to protect it from the herds. The work is expected to be completed by early October hopefully in time for the winter migration back down from the high pastures. An opening ceremony will be held to which media and all those involved in making the project happen will be invited. The solution to the Tsinskaro Problem which was considered for years one of the most intractable problems in the wider context of the AMR will give hope to many and marks the beginning of a regeneration of the AMR, a vital lifeline of the livestock system in Georgia.
From the ISET Economist news (http://www.iset.ge/news/?p=4633)
By Eric Livny
The “do no harm” (primum non nocere) principle is well known to students of medical schools. It is one of the most fundamental maxims in medicine, as formulated, for example, in the Epidemics book of the Hippocratic Collection:
“The physician must … have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm“.
Doctors are taught that medical interventions are not risk-free. Thus, when facing a “problem” one should consider whether to use a particular procedure (e.g. surgery or chemical treatment) or do NOTHING.
Not surprisingly, this very principle has applications in many fields other than healthcare. And it is high time for this principle to be studied and applied in Georgian policymaking.
Heather Briggs, agronomist, agro-consultant on plant productivity, international expert on cheese and journalist visited Tbilisi to hold the training for agro-journalists last week. "Batumelebi" newspaper interviewed her.
For the first time in Georgia a training on agro journalism was conducted for media representatives wishing to report specifically on rural issues and news. The main purpose of the training was to fill knowledge gaps of media practitioners in crops, livestock husbandry and agriculture management and to introduce the basics of agro journalism. Heather Briggs, an international expert and member of British Guild of Agricultural Journalists - was invited to lead a 5 day training from January 26th to February 2nd. About 50 representatives of regional, national broadcasters and printed media participated in the event. The training was organized by the Georgian Regional Media Association and facilitated by the Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme.
By Helen Bradbury: Team Leader, Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme
We are in an interesting conundrum. Gender in most places has been written-in to law. Bar a few notable exceptions, every country in the world, has varying degrees of success in applying universal suffrage. Fifty countries are signed up to the CEDAW convention (the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women). On the CEDAW world map of Discrepant Government Behaviour Concerning Women, the countries shaded dark green which denotes ‘virtually no enforcement of laws consonant with CEDAW or such laws do not even exist’, are where you expect them to be and in fact they are relatively few. It is the next two categories which disturb, covering the vast majority of the globe, the mid and lighter green, where laws are partly or fully consonant with CEDAW but there is little effective enforcement or spotty enforcement of them and the issue is low priority or hit and miss. After the gains, the laws and ratifications of the last centuries it seems that we must tread very carefully indeed for we must counteract indifference, in which inertia and inactivity stop us moving forward.
Government Momentum Builds on Animal Movement Route after the years of discussion and information exchange. The biggest challenge in Georgian sheep sector – the Animal Movement Route issue has come to the point when there is a willingness and concrete plan for taking actions and reaching tangible results.
The Eco Films LTD film The Road, commissioned by ALCP KK, was shown at the BIFED - Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary on October 31, 2014. The documentary was presented in the non-competition section and highly appreciated by the audience.
