COP17 in Yerevan: Georgia’s protected areas exceed one million hectares
At the leaders’ summit of the UN biodiversity conference, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said protected areas cover more than 15% of the country and that Georgia supports the “30 by 2030” goal.
At a glance
- Published
- 17 October 2026
In this article · 4 sections
On 16 October 2026, at the COP17 Leaders’ Summit in Yerevan, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the country’s protected areas exceed one million hectares, more than 15% of its territory. Areas protected under international conventions cover 23% of the land. Georgia supports the global goal of protecting at least 30% of land and sea by 2030.
What did the prime minister say in Yerevan?
More than one million hectares, or more than 15% of the country: that is the area of Georgia’s protected areas that Irakli Kobakhidze gave in Yerevan on 16 October. The summit, titled “Leaders for Nature”, was part of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17). Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Davit Songhulashvili travelled with him.
The second figure measures something else. Areas protected under international conventions cover 23% of the country’s land. Georgia, the prime minister said, supports the global goal that at least 30% of land and sea should be protected by 2030.
The speech also sketched the country’s nature: high mountains, large forests and more than 26,000 rivers. The Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and Georgia also has UNESCO biosphere reserves. Kobakhidze named three foundations of the policy: protecting natural heritage, keeping ecological connections and restoring damaged ecosystems.
Neighbours and 2030
Kobakhidze said the South Caucasus countries share ecosystems and that Georgia is committed to working with its neighbours to protect this shared natural heritage. He linked healthy ecosystems to water resources, tourism and small businesses. He gave no figures in this part.
The key question now, he said, is what results the commitments already made will bring. He called for reaffirming the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and for turning the convention’s commitments into tangible results by 2030.
What is COP17?
COP17 is the 17th meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It runs in Yerevan from 19 to 30 October and carries out the first global review of progress on the Kunming-Montreal framework, adopted in 2022. The leaders’ summit took place before the conference, on 16 October. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened it. Kobakhidze attended at Pashinyan’s invitation.
Shared ecosystems also show up in this atlas’s news. In autumn, raptors pass through the Batumi corridor, and next door in Armenia’s Shirak most of the birds found dead on power lines were killed during migration.
What remains unclear?
What is counted. The reports of the speech do not say which protected-area categories make up the million hectares, or which conventions the 23% refers to. The two figures may partly overlap, so they cannot be added together.
New areas. Media reports have given figures for protected areas created or expanded in 2026. We could not check them against an official source, so we do not repeat them here.
30% and Georgia. The prime minister backed the global goal. The sources used here do not show whether Georgia has a national 30% commitment or a timeline for it.
One of the new protected areas created in 2026 is on the Rioni, where sturgeon spawn. That story and others are in the news.
