Author: b2b

Equine fatalities from epotorium plant

Nabji-Korphu horses falling by the eco-tourism trail

Nabji: Horses are the only means of transport

When the government started the Nabji-Korphu eco-tourism trail a few years ago, locals residing along the trail found in horses a source of quick cash inflow. The trail became popular with tourists and farmers grabbed the new opportunity with both hands. However, with many horses falling victim to what villagers suspect to be a strange disease in the last two years, locals are worried sick.

“My two mules died last year, causing me a loss of Nu 30,000,” said Pema Gyeltshen from Korphu. Pema Geltshen, a father of five school-going children, ferries loads from Reutala, the nearest road head to his village. “With the opening of Nabji-Korphu eco-tourism trail, horses become an important source of income to us,” he said, adding that, given the remoteness of the place, horses were the only means of transport.

In Korphu, almost all the 186 households own about two to three horses each. With numerous reports of horses dying, villagers are anxious. “Last year alone, Korphu lost about 30 horses,” said a 66-year-old resident, Yuden. Villagers say that about 20 horses died in 2008 in Nabji and at least six died in Nimzhong village. They say that horses do not survive even a day if they have the disease. A tshogpa from Nabji village, Dorji, lost his three horses, one by one, to the fell disease. “I lost about Nu 36,000,” he said. Continue reading Equine fatalities from epotorium plant

Water scarcity threatens three villages in Trongsa

With their only drinking water source drying up quicker than they imagined, farmers in three villages in Langthel gewog, Trongsa are being threatened of drinking water shortage.

Villagers from Bezam, Ngormey and Sheling in lower Trongsa said that they had to skip meals sometimes because there was not enough water for all the households. Although the government had, under the rural water supply scheme, provided drinking water to the three villages, the source was not reliable, according to villagers.

“The water is not enough, the source is not reliable,” said Jigme, a 70 year-old farmer from Ngormey pointing to a dry tap in front of his house. “The tap remains like this (dry) for weeks. There is not enough water to even cook meals.” Continue reading Water scarcity threatens three villages in Trongsa

A Demon-inspired Migration

Farmers in rural Bhutan abandon their villages when wild animals attack crops or humans, or they lose their farmland to landslides or even in search of a better life. Phungshing villagers in Thrimshing dungkhag have a spookier reason. Villagers started leaving Phungshing in the early 1990s when the local paw (shaman) told them that the death of a middle-aged villager was caused by a demon that resided below the village. More people died in the following years and villagers started abandoning Phungshing in droves.

Located on a gentle slope of a low hill descending into the Ngera Ama chhu (river), Phungshing is a fertile village where farmers grow maize, potato, chili and orange. According to villagers, since the shaman’s warning, many people, who did not heed the warning, died. They say most deaths were sudden and strange.  About half a dozen people from that village have perished so far. A household, according to villagers, moved away for good after losing two members in successive years. Continue reading A Demon-inspired Migration

10 million hazelnut to be planted in Bhutan

January 30: Over the next five years, 10 million hazelnut trees will be grown across Bhutan. This project will be undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Sage Private Limited, a private enterprise based in the US. The project aims to improve the livelihood of the farmers, generate employment and promote environment conservation.

A memorandum of understating for the project was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Sage Private Limited today. It was signed by the Agriculture Minister Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho and Managing Partner of Sage Partners Limited, Daniel Spitzer.

Hazelnut cultivation is new in Bhutan. Except for some research trial plots in Yesepang and Khangma, currently there is no hazelnut plantation in the country. More than 20,000 acres of degraded, barren and agriculturally unproductive land all across the country will be used to cultivate hazelnut.

The Agriculture Minister Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho said it will be a private-public partnership project. He said the project will bring in multiple benefits. Continue reading 10 million hazelnut to be planted in Bhutan

A More Humane Way to Measure Progress

How can you tell if your life is getting better? One answer is to ask a statistician. The problem, however, is that you might not like, understand or remotely identify with the answer you receive.

For much of the postwar period, statisticians have concentrated on dry, macro-economic measures to document the changes going on in societies around the world – changes in gross domestic product and international trade flows, for example. That was fine for policymakers, for whom economic growth and advances in globalisation were evidence of a job well done. But for ordinary people, measures like these were too detached from their everyday life to have real meaning, and worse, sometimes contradicted their own experience. Relentless economic growth often seemed to pass many people by; many felt life was not improving, and that globalisation was bringing notable downsides. Continue reading A More Humane Way to Measure Progress

Saving the White-bellied Heron

 

Habitat encroached? A line of trucks on the banks of Punatsangchhu

The rare and endangered White-bellied Heron, spotted mainly along the Punatsangchhu basin in Punakha, might, after all, have a protected home.

With major developmental activities taking place along the Punatshangchhu area to generate 10,000 MW by 2020, there was a concern among nature conservationists that the activities and growing population in the area would severely alter or destroy the habitat for the birds. And although the upper Phochhu area was declared protected for White-bellied Herons in 2007, the Natural Resources Development Corporation Ltd. (NRDCL) recently asked the government to lift the ban on quarrying operations in the area to meet the growing demand for sand. Continue reading Saving the White-bellied Heron

Phobjikha’s eco-friendly electrification

19 January, 2009 – As the winter roosting ground to one of the most endangered bird species in the world, for the people of Phobjikha valley in Wangduephodrang the black-necked cranes meant living without electricity. 

Not anymore. By 2011 end, the valley of 800 households, who use solar electricity, will finally get electricity by both underground and overhead cables. The solar panels had been provided by the royal society for the protection of nature (RSPN).

The total project area covers 165 sq km and work on the 33/11 kV main sub station at Tabadin, above the Druk Seed office, will begin by March this year, said senior manager of the urban electrification division, Bhutan power corporation (BPC), Pradeep M Pradhan.

“Initially, it was totally underground but, since the cost was coming very high, we made some changes,” said Pradeep M Pradhan. “Now it’s underground only in the main valley, the crane area.” Continue reading Phobjikha’s eco-friendly electrification

The 44 Places to Go in 2009

NY Times 11th January 2009: From the Aegean Sea to Zambia, this year’s most compelling destinations are awash in sublime landscapes, cutting-edge art, gala music festivals, and stylish new resorts.

…Reaching Nirvana gets increasingly Chic. Luxurious eco-aware resorts continue to shoot up all over the tiny Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan, ensuring that well-heeled travelers never have to suffer monkish privations….Explore temples of indulgence…

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/11/travel/20090111_DESTINATIONS.html

Bridge To Bhutan specializes in customizing Boutique Travel itineraries with accomodations in the boutique resorts (‘temples of indulgence’).

Happy Travels in 2009!

Fears for Bhutan national animal, Takin

Source-BBC: The mountain kingdom of Bhutan is trying to protect its national animal, the Takin, from extinction.

Legend has it that the creature was created from the bones of a goat and a cow [by the Divine Madman] but there are thought to be fewer than 1,000 left in the country.

Charles Haviland visited the national Takin reserve to discover more about the unusual animal.Check out the short 3 minute video.

Weblink: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7813805.stm

Sacred dances digitally documented

Gerard Houghton compiles chham database for posterity

29 December, 2008 – Thirteen centuries after it started, Bhutan’s history of sacred mask dances has now been documented and digitally recorded. The document on Buddhist ritual dances (chhams) of Bhutan was presented to the home and culture affairs ministry (MoHCA) by the technology director of Core of Culture, Gerard Houghton, on December 25 at the national library, Thimphu.

Gerard Houghton said, “It’s perhaps the most expensive documentation and digital recording of the world on dance.” He said about one million dollars was spent in the making and that it took about five years.”

“It was very difficult to capture the video because, for a few of the dances, we had to stand almost 6-7 hours,” he said. Houghton said the dances of Bhutan are unique and do not exist anywhere in the world and the document database will keep these dances alive.

The documentation was done as a part of The Dragon’s Gift exhibition project between the Bhutan government and the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

The 300 hours of digital recording contains dance clips from 20 different tsechus across the country, some of which are almost endangered today. Continue reading Sacred dances digitally documented