Environmental impacts and sustainable development: results from public awareness and attitudes’ study in Georgia

Abstract

Abstract In democratic countries, how sustainable the country’s development path will be, depends to a significant extent on the awareness and attitudes of the society. Within the framework of this project, it was possible to study the importance of environmental impacts within sustainable development in general and specifically for Georgia. In addition to the comprehensive literature review, online public survey was conducted within the project, in-depth interviews with various representatives of Georgian society (public organizations, business and private sector, research and academic institutions) were held together with a focus group with students. Results show that, in parallel with the sustainable development agenda, environmental field is important for the country as a whole, as well as for some part of the society, different stakeholders and organizations in Georgia. However, general public still prioritizes social and economic issues over environmental ones in the country. Hence, in order to make this area become more prioritized and the subject of evidence-based analysis in the future, more awareness raising and academic development of this field will be crucial.