Slowing the flow in the Rioni River Basin

original short description:
The Rioni River basin is the second largest in Georgia and the largest in Western Georgia originating in the Greater Caucasus range and flowing into the Black Sea near the city of Poti. The river also traverses the town of Samtredia, a municipality located 27 km from Georgia's second-largest city, Kutaisi. Georgia’s most important roads and railways converge there, making Samtredia the country’s vital transport hub. Though Samtredia is not a large city, it is an important one and has been affected directly on many occasions by floods that have become a current occurrence in the Rioni River basin as of late. The underlying causes of vulnerability to climate change in the Rioni basin can be categorised into 1) physical factors –direct manifestations of climate change, 2) factors caused by anthropogenic intervention – those related to the harmful ways in which humans have and continue to interact with the environment which has exacerbated vulnerability and 3) Institutional factors – related to the legislative/regulatory barriers placed by government and other institutions, as well as limited capacity (human and resources) to manage climate change vulnerability. Flooding has been harmful not only to the local population, whose safety decreased over the years but also to the biodiversity of the area, which suffered losses and an ecological imbalance as well as a disruption in the habitat patterns of local fauna. Many of these issues became the focal point of an activity developed by the Adaptation Fund alongside the Georgian government as early as 2012. The intervention stretched for a 4 year period and involved several localities in the Rioni River Basin, including Samtredia municipality. (1,2)

Original goals question:
The majority of the territory of Samtredia Municipality is located on the Kolkheti Lowland and very small part of the Sajavakho plateau. Total area of the district is 341.1 km2, population size – 60,300 and density – about 166 persons per km2 which is a very high population density. There are 50 settlements in the municipality, including 1 city – Samtredia, 1 town – Kulashi and the rest – communities. In Samtredia municipality floods have threatened the population in the last 10 years constantly and Intensity and duration of precipitation events combined with early and more accelerated snow melt, as a result of temperature alleviations, are likely to increase due to climate change. The intervention aims to establish long-term flood management practices enabling the Georgian government to manage flood risk in a more sustainable manner.
The identified goals of the intervention are:
1. To mobilize local communities to implement flood risk adaptation measures such as trenching, terracing, re-plantation, deep root bush and shrub zones, nut tree or tea plantations (traditional of the region).
2. To provide direct adaptation measures to reduce flood levels experienced, and provide flood warning to improve the ability of the affected population to respond and move out of danger during a flood (including early warning systems)
3. To provide maintenance/restoration of biodiversity by strengthening the functionality of the ecosystems.
4. Habitat creation through the restoration of the natural floodplain by zoning development away from the functional floodplain and creating floodways.
5. Control runoff and soil erosion through agro-forestry, thereby reducing losses of water, soil material, organic matter and nutrients.
6. To contribute to the development of a green economy by providing jobs and business opportunities to local people. (1,2)

Text taken from the economic impatcs:
While considerable focus was placed upon the capacity and resources required to build key national institutions like the National Environment Agency (NEA), the project also paid particular attention to the practical implementation component and addressed the direct interests of local communities ‘on-the-ground’ through their active participation and employment in the community-based adaptation measures, such as bank terracing, river bank protection works, and vegetative buffers and other agroforestry activities. (2)

environmental impacts:
The environmental benefits of the intervention translated through tangible impacts such as an increase in the green area through the almost 24,000 trees, deep-root bushes and shrubbery that were planted, incorporating 10 ha, as per a report from UNDP, dating 2018. Moreover, the trees planted were of different varieties, therefore, increasing the number of tree species present, such as Acacia, hazelnuts, wild plum, ash tree, nut, oak and walnuts. These varieties have land reclamation properties and high economic value. For example, Acacia plantations can grow rapidly in humid climates (such as the target region), delivering in as little as seven years, even on degraded and infertile soils where other tree species cannot be successfully established. These local tree varieties are already popular in the target region, with high demand and saturation in the local market. They were expected to control runoff and soil erosion, thereby reducing losses of water, soil material, organic matter and nutrients. Additionally, these species have critical soil fixation properties, especially in sloppy terrains that dominate in the project site and were expected to contribute to the protection of the slopes and shores of the rivers. (2, 4, 6)