Two new national parks for Georgia: Egrisi and Tsiv-Gombori
In June 2026 parliament approved two new national parks: Egrisi in Samegrelo and Tsiv-Gombori in Kakheti. Alongside Tsiv-Gombori it also created the Signagi Strict Nature Reserve and the Tsiv-Gombori Protected Landscape.
On 9 June 2026 the Parliament of Georgia approved the Egrisi National Park in the third reading. It covers 37,074 hectares in the municipalities of Tsalenjikha, Chkhorotsku and Martvili. On 24 June, also in the third reading, parliament unanimously passed the law on the Tsiv-Gombori Protected Areas with 90 votes: a national park of 21,761 hectares, the Signagi Strict Nature Reserve of 554 hectares and a protected landscape of 17,562 hectares.
What did parliament approve?
In June 2026 Georgia’s protected area system gained two national parks. Both laws are government initiatives, and parliament passed both in the third reading.
On 9 June, at the plenary session, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Zurab Ezugbaia presented the bill on the establishment and management of the Egrisi National Park. The law sets out the functional and spatial planning of the park and its state administration and management.
On 24 June parliament unanimously, with 90 votes, passed the law on the establishment and management of the Tsiv-Gombori Protected Areas. It creates three new units and defines which activities are allowed in each category.
Egrisi National Park
Egrisi National Park covers 37,074 hectares in the municipalities of Tsalenjikha, Chkhorotsku and Martvili, in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. It belongs to the Colchic biogeographical region. Thanks to a favourable climate, ancient Colchic flora has survived here. The park is also home to narrow local endemics known only from Samegrelo.
One of the park’s main aims is to protect unique geomorphological formations. Twenty-six vertebrate species found on its territory are on the Red List of Georgia. The park will protect chestnut forests, habitats of local endemic plants, boxwood groves of the Colchic forests, and the forests around Mount Migaria and Mount Jvari.
The Tsiv-Gombori Protected Areas
The Tsiv-Gombori law creates three protected areas at once in Kakheti:
National park. 21,761 hectares in the municipalities of Sagarejo, Gurjaani and Telavi, managed by the Agency of Protected Areas.
Signagi Strict Nature Reserve. 554 hectares, also managed by the Agency of Protected Areas.
Protected landscape. 17,562 hectares, managed by Gurjaani Municipality under delegated authority. State forests inside the landscape stay under the National Forestry Agency.
The law also amends the Code of Administrative Offences: the Gurjaani Municipality mayor’s office, or a person it authorises, will be able to draw up reports on offences committed in the protected landscape.
What it means in numbers
Together the two national parks cover 58,835 hectares. With the Signagi reserve and the Tsiv-Gombori Protected Landscape, these two 2026 laws add 76,951 hectares to the protected area system.
In our COP17 article we could not verify the figures for the areas created in 2026 against an official source. The Egrisi and Tsiv-Gombori areas come from parliament’s official releases.
What remains unclear?
Species. The official releases do not name the 26 Red List vertebrate species of Egrisi. They give no data on the fauna of Tsiv-Gombori.
Date of entry into force. In May, during the committee hearing, it was said that the Tsiv-Gombori law would take effect on 1 July 2026, and the provisions on the protected landscape on 1 January 2027. The sources used here do not show these dates in the final text.
Boundaries. The releases give no maps or exact boundaries of the parks. The photos therefore show the ranges, not necessarily the parks themselves.
More stories about Georgia’s protected areas are in the news section.
