Abstract:Caucasus eco-region occupies more than 583 thousand sq km and are represented 25 types, 62 sub-types and 205 genera of landscapes. Due to several climatically contrasting regions the landscapes are quite diverse here. Sub-tropical humid conditions, also experiencing mostly hot, dry weather year-round dominate in the lowland and foothills of Caucasus. forests are mostly concentrated in low-and middle-mountain landscapes. Comparatively little are of forests are concentrated in the lowlands and plains. High volcanic plateaus of South Caucasus also are without forest areas and are represented by steppe vegetation. The main purpose of this work is to determine anthropogenic changes forest landscapes of Caucasus and to evaluate the degree of this changes. The trend of anthropogenic change of forests is observed almost on whole territory of eco-region, especially in plain areas. Therefore, the decreasing trend of forest area, phytomass amount, also the ecological functions are evident. The research is based on the landscape approach. A great set of field data were used. All these data were processed by means of GIS-technologies.

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Aim: Mountain regions face specific challenges which require appropriate policies implemented in accordance with the principle of sustainable development. The most important aspect of sustainable development is direct consideration of population needs when drawing the development plan. Thus, the aim of the study was to analyze the opinions, attitudes and behavior of Mestia municipality population towards the environment and identify the most important ecological problems.Methodology: 895 people were surveyed in Mestia municipality. Stratified and cluster selection methods were used for selection of respondents and compilation of database. SPSS package was used for statistical analysis of survey results.Results: During the study, 30.9% of population under taken during the survey of Mestia municipality advocated landslide-mud flow processes as one of the major ecological problems. Seventeen percent of respondents revealed that unavailability/failure of sewerage systems is the number one ecological problem, whereas 13.9% climate changes, extreme weather and climatic events and floods.Interpretation: Obtained results are essential for elaboration of strategies for sustainable development of various regions and are also quite interesting that indicates or reveals an example of environment and mountain regions' population interdependence.

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