Sustainable Development – Page 8

Bhutan draft water bill discussed

Bhutan is blessed with one of the most important natural resources, water. Water is the backbone of the Kingdom’s economy with hydropower playing an ever increasing importance in revenue generation. However due to rapid socio-economic development, the pressure on water resource is increasing every year. To address this concern, the National Environment Commission has drafted a water bill.

It will ensure sustainable use of water and also address water related issues in the future.

So far there is no specific act or an authority to look after the kingdom’s water resource. The government has been protecting the environment and human health through integrated water resource management to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for the people. Continue reading Bhutan draft water bill discussed

Bhutan Government go-slow holds up rehab

An interim rehabilitation centre will open next month while the proposal for the first fully equipped rehabilitation centre at Gidakom gets approved, say officials from the youth development fund (YDF) and Bhutan narcotics control agency (BNCA).

The one-year interim rehab centre will function in a rented house in Thimphu with 40 patients. A programme coordinator, an addiction expert and four counselors, who are presently undergoing training in India, will make up the staff. The rehab will be jointly run by YDF and BNCA. Continue reading Bhutan Government go-slow holds up rehab

Nichula geog in Dagana to get a suspension bridge

Nichula geog in Dagana dzongkhag is one of the remotest geogs in the kingdom. For most of the year, it remains cut off from rest of the Kingdom by the swelling Sunkosh River. There is no bridge and motorable road connecting the geog is a distant dream. People including officials use rafts or boats to commute to the village. Things are however set to change for the better with the construction of a suspension bridge about to begin.

Crossing this huge body of water using the services of the rafts is not for the faint hearted. It is a risky business especially during the summer when the river swells ominously. So before the Monsoon begins, residents travel to Lhamoizingkha to buy stocks of rice, cooking oil, and other essential items. Continue reading Nichula geog in Dagana to get a suspension bridge

Snowstorm cuts off Merak

A powerful snowstorm on February 25 blew away roofs of more than 50 houses, school buildings and a veterinary clinic in Merak, Trashigang.

The jamtho (parts of roof) of an old temple, Samtenchholing lhakhang, and the gewog guesthouse were also damaged.But there were no casualties said the Sakten dungpa, Tshewang Tobgay, who was informed by a yak herder, who managed to get through the snow and return from Merak yesterday afternoon. Continue reading Snowstorm cuts off Merak

World Bank warns Bhutan of vulnerability

Countries unaffected by first round of global meltdown have to watch out for second wave.

Bhutan is vulnerable to the second round effects of the global economic slowdown, through export earnings, tourism receipts, remittances and external financing for infrastructure, warns the World Bank.

A report on Impact of Global Financial Crisis on South Asia released recently states that countries such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal were mostly insulated from the first round effects of the financial crisis, owing partly to their sound macroeconomic management and the underdeveloped nature of financial markets that are not exposed to international markets.

“Additionally, their reliance on foreign funding has been relatively large. The global financial crisis worsened their macroeconomic difficulties as sources of funding contracted,” stated the report. Continue reading World Bank warns Bhutan of vulnerability

Eco-trail windfall for local economy

Tourism spin-off uplifts Trongsa farmers’ standard of living

The trail is the source of additional income to farmers

It’s now winter but farmer Thinley of Trongsa is looking forward to next autumn. Not that he’s particularly crazy about the season, though things may seem nicer then. What he’s excited about is the stream of tourists that the fall delivers.

Tourists mean opportunity for work, to make some money.

The 50-year-old lanky man from Nabji village, made about Nu 10,000 in 2008 portering tourist bags and tents and foodstuff using his ponies. Fortunately for him, since the government opened the Nabji-Korphu eco-tourism trail, tourists have been coming to the region. Their numbers are not huge, but enough to keep him occupied- from autumn through winter, the seasons tourists visit. Winter is not bitter cold like in Paro or Bumthang, it’s relatively balmy. Continue reading Eco-trail windfall for local economy

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