D isagreem en t betıveen the G overn m en t o f G eorgia and in tern ation al oil corp oratioııs on eco-com p en sation m easu res req u ired off-set en viron m en tal dam ages eaused by Iarge scale oil and gas p ip elin es resu lted in the ap p lication oftlıe Iıabitat-h ectare m etlıod ology to defin e the n ecessary scop e o f eco-com p en sation m easu res for en viron m en tal d am ages related to th e con stru ction o f the pipelines. T h e h ab itat-lıectare scorin g m etlıod is a com m on ap p roach to determ in e the valu e o f vegetation in n on -m on etary units. T he en viron m en tal p roxy used i.e. the "currency" in vvhich the valu e o f vegetation is expressed is the " h ab itat-lıectare T he h ab itat score is d erived by assessin g a n u m b er o f site-based lıab itat and la n d scap e com p on en ts again st a p re-d eterm in ed 'benchm arkk B en ch m ark s have to be defm ed for d ifferen t ecological vegetation classes (E V C s). h ab itat area flıaj x h ab itat sco re = h ab itat-lıectares S in ce little in form ation is availab le on the d evelop m en t o f h ab itat q u ality o f variou s forest co m m u ııities (E V C s) in G eorgia and sin ce the data availab le for this ex-p ost assessm en t did not allow for a tlıorou gh assessm en t o f b iod iversity, the d evelop m en t ofth e d om in an t species in each E V C (as exp ressed in yield tab les) vvas used as a p roxy for the d evelop m en t o f the h ab itat q u ality/valu e in each E V C . In total 262 plots w itlı a total area o f 141.82 ha o f land classified as forest w ere assessed using tlıe h ab itat-lıectare m eth od ology. T h e total v a lu e o f these forest areas am ounts to 80.51 h ab itat-h ectares. T he scop e oftlıe eco-com p en sation m easu res (i.e. the com p en sation ratio) req u ired to assure that no net loss in forest h abitats occu rs dep en d s on the period oftim e the p arty cau sin g the d eforestation can be com m itted to look after the afforestation , T he com p en sation ratio required to assu re that no n et loss in forest hab itats occurs vvas calcu lated for the totality o f the forest areas in G eorgia affected by the con stru ction o f B T C /S C P p ip elin es in d ecen n ial step sfor care tald n gp eriod s o/20, 30 and 40 years. D ep en d in g on the E V C and the con d ition o f th e forest at th e m om en t o f clearin g the com p en sation ratio for the care taking p eriod varied from 1:2,5 up to 1:6,8 ha.