bridge to bhutan – Page 2

Measuring what counts. The insignificance of GDP & the birth of GNH

31st Dec. 2010: In the early 1970s, the tiny nation of Bhutan stopped focusing on gross domestic product, or GDP. This wasn’t because the country was trying to hide its economic progress. It was because King Jigme Singye Wangchuck thought GDP measured the wrong things.

“Why are we so obsessed and focused with gross domestic product?” he asked a journalist inquiring about the country’s economy. “Why don’t we care more about gross national happiness?”

And so began the birth of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness index, or GNH. Continue reading Measuring what counts. The insignificance of GDP & the birth of GNH

Role of tourism for sustainable development & poverty eradication

Madrid, Spain, 21 December 2010: Nations General Assembly acknowledges role of tourism for sustainable development and poverty eradication. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted by consensus at its 65th session three separate resolutions emphasizing the role on tourism in sustainable development. The three resolutions, on the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, on the promotion of ecotourism and on the importance of sustainable tourism for Small Island Developing States stress the significance of the sector to the development agenda in terms of sustainability, employment and poverty elimination. The resolutions further welcomed the efforts and work of UNWTO in promoting sustainable tourism for poverty eradication. Continue reading

Back to Bhutan after 43 years

LIFEbhutan1

Peter Steele at his home in Hillcrest. Steele and his family returned to the Kingdom of Bhutan this year to recreate a journey they made 43 years ago.

…….The last time Judith Steele was in Bhutan, a raven stole her soother.

Forty-three years later, the Yukon day-home operator returned to the country to have tea with Princess Ashi-Tashi.

The princess is 86 years old now, but remembers Judith’s father Peter Steele bringing his young family to her country to study goitre in 1967.

At the time, Peter was a doctor in London, and his boss treated the third king of Bhutan, who had a heart condition.

To repay him, the king invited both men to his sequestered country. Continue reading Back to Bhutan after 43 years

Costa Rica looks to Bhutan for happiness

Costa Rica is consulting with Bhutan for how to remain among the happiest places on earth.

A small country of 680,000 inhabitants, the Kingdom of Bhutan is located in the Himalaya mountains on the eastern border of India, and is the only country in the world to measure the happiness of their country like most countries measure their gross domestic product.

Costa Rica, which topped a list drawn up by the United Kingdom’s New Economics Foundation for being the country with the highest life satisfaction, is looking to Bhutan for tips on how to remain in first place.

Bhutan began measuring the happiness of its people in 2008. On a census distributed nationwide, the last question on the form was, “Are you happy?” a question which 97 percent answered affirmatively. Continue reading Costa Rica looks to Bhutan for happiness

The Buddhist Outlook & Bhutan

Written by ManjuWakhley, Oxford,UK

Since Bhutan is predominantly a Buddhist country, policies often stem from Buddhist perception and ethics. Buddhist philosophy stresses the importance of all sentient beings and how all beings are interdependent. This notion also agrees with the scientific ecosystem theory that all species have a place and a function. The relationship between human beings and the environment is seen in a fundamentally different way as compared to the western approach. While the latter is based on the Christian instrumental view that nature exists solely for the benefit of mankind, the Buddhist concept of Sunyata (Form and Emptiness) holds that no subject or object has an independent existence; rather it dissolves into a web of relationships with all dimensions of its environment. Buddhism perceives reality as circular and not linear unlike western thought, which means human form is a part of the Karmic cycle and is really difficult to obtain, all forms are transient and therefore sustainable development is in everybody’s self interest instead of just that of the nature and future. Bhutan has never exploited it natural resources on grounds of commercial profitability. Continue reading

NGO Spotlight: VAST Bhutan (Voluntary Artists’ Studio Thimphu)

There are countless non-profit art organizations in the world. While most of them utilize the power art holds for positive and productive social purposes, VAST Bhutan stands apart from the rest. I have had the privilege of witnessing the workings of VAST, first hand, over the last six weeks. It is always an incredible thing to participate in social services, but VAST’s volunteers have reminded me how true activism through art can benefit a world.
VAST has initiated several special projects alongside the regular classes that are taught by its volunteers- projects that are born out of the core of true humanitarianism. Last year, volunteers came together to develop a rice bank to help the needy. They also built a home for a family in Punakha. While both of these projects were incredible, VAST’s ‘Make a Wish’ project deserves particular recognition.

For futher information on VAST bhuan please visit: http://www.vast-bhutan.org/

(Courtesy: BusinessBhutan)

Higher taxes on junk food! eat junk, pay more

Koka, Wai Wai, Coke, Lays potatoes and Rockbee connoisseurs will have to find a GNH food alternative

Bhutanese consumers could soon end up paying higher rates for alcohol and foods classified as junk like carbonated drinks, potato chips, chocolates etc.

The Ministry of Finance along with its Department of Revenue and Customs are in the process of drawing up a list of alcohol and junk food products for taxation based on cabient instructions.

The Prime Minister Lyonchen Jigmi Y. Thinley in a press conference said the government had identified a list of food items as junk that would impair the health of especially children and so would be taxed higher. He gave the example of soda water.

“The new taxation policy structure, which Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu will be reporting to the National Assembly, has differentiated what constitutes healthy consumer items and what constitutes items that will accelerate the kind of problem for Bhutan associated with life style diseases,” said Lyonchen.

“When Lyonchen has said that taxation should be there on these products to discourage their use, the tax will have to be more than moderate to do so,” said Nima Wangdi, finance ministry’s director general. On the taxation structure the DG said the ministry had options of up to 150% tax.

The Director General said that all manufactured and processed food items that are addictive, fatty, unhealthy, having harmful chemicals like mono sodium and too much sugar would fall under the category of junk food. Continue reading Higher taxes on junk food! eat junk, pay more

Bhutan Tour and the Daily Tariff

Can Bhutan bring in more tourists at a higher tariff? According to a majority of tour operators in the country that today number around 300 it may not be possible.

In other words, it’s going to be difficult to meet the government’s target of bringing in 100,000 dollar paying tourists by 2013, when the official tariff goes up from USD 200 to USD 250 a day.

Given the existing policy of ‘high value low volume’ tourism, USD 200 a day is generally seen as expensive, because it is assumed to be the cost of the daily visa fee.

It’s surprising that, even after all these years of opening up to tourism, most prospective tourists do not know that the USD 200 a day also covers the cost for food, lodge, transport and guide services. There’s a serious communication gap that needs to be bridged.

Still, the notion that tourists may decide to go some place else instead of coming to Bhutan because official tariffs have gone up by USD 50 does not sound convincing, when every blessed year Bhutan keeps featuring as one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Continue reading Bhutan Tour and the Daily Tariff

Bhutan hosts first SAARC summit (28-29 May, 2010)

Bhutan will be hosting in 2010 the South Asian association for regional cooperation (SAARC) summit for the first time since the regional body was created in 1985.

“It will greatly enhance Bhutan’s international image as a sovereign, independent, responsible and equal member country,” said the prime minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley.This will be the first time that Bhutan will hold a conference where 8 heads of governments from Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives will be attending.
Bhutan had skipped the opportunity to host the SAARC summit three times on the ground of the country’s infrastructure. The summit will be in Thimphu with the currently proposed dates being from April 28 to 29, 2010.

“We are now prepared in terms of the administration, infrastructure and the foreign ministry being ready to host the summit,” said the Lyonchhoen.

The summit is also important for Bhutan since it is actually obligatory for each member state to host the summit. The 2010 summit was actually Maldives’s turn to host.
He said that the meeting would also allow for bilateral meetings with all the leaders of various countries, including India.
On his meeting with the Indian prime minister and other heads of state during the summit, he said, “We will discuss all matters of mutual interest, bilateral matters, relation, review, appraise each other of global and regional issues.”
He said that the summit would promote good neighbourly relations among SAARC countries, as different countries could meet and discuss.
“It is also like a coming of age for Bhutan,” said the prime minister. He said the leaders would be visiting a country that had successfully and peacefully made a transition to democracy inspired by His Majesty the King.

By Tenzing Lamsang (Kuenselonline)

Happiness and Hazelnuts

Daniel Spitzer digs into Bhutan’s soil to make a profit and sustain livelihoods

Courtesy: Article by David A. Andelman, Forbes Asia:Feb 05, 2010

Daniel Spitzer’s first shipment of 3,000 hazelnut trees arrived in Bhutan in December, each thumbnail-size and packed in 60 Pyrex petri dishes. The refrigerated plantlets headed straight for a hilltop laboratory-nursery just ten minutes from the airport. When they reach nearly 3 feet tall, they’ll be planted on a hilly tract in the remote eastern province of Mongar. Three years into the project, with six more ahead before marketable nuts begin dropping, it represents the first major foreign direct investment in Bhutan’s history and the realization of a dream the 53-year-old American entrepreneur has been nursing for three decades. Continue reading