Saving ‘private’ Rioni: Georgia’s growing environmental protest, 09 April 2021

In just a few months, a protest against a large dam on the Rioni River has grown from a handful of people in Lechkhumi, western Georgia into a national demonstration. On the International Day of Action for Rivers, 14 March, thousands of Georgians made history with the largest environmental protest in the country’s recent past....

The Namakhvani hydropower plant will be one of the country’s largest. Its reservoir’s mirror surface will cover 610 hectares. It will flood parts of Tskaltubo and Tsageri municipalities, including the villages, cultural heritage, unique biodiversity, and some of Georgia’s precious and expensive micro zones for producing Tvishi wine.

The project poses threats to not only the river’s ecosystem and the region’s unique wine, but also to the population of the Imereti and Lechkhumi regions, scientists say. Its development started without any justification of the economic need for the plant, and the preliminary construction works started without the completion of a number of studies required by law. Furthermore, locals have little trust in the investor – one of Enka Renewables’ shareholders, Clean Energy, previously built another large dam in Georgia whose tunnels collapsed....