{"id":790,"date":"2009-09-11T16:20:24","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T10:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/?p=790"},"modified":"2009-09-11T16:20:24","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T10:20:24","slug":"the-prayer-flag-and-the-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/11\/the-prayer-flag-and-the-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"The prayer flag and the forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

When sentiment clashes with common sense, something\u2019s got to give<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

Environment : Part III
\nSeptember, 2009 – <\/strong>Bhutan\u2019s verdant forests, whose coverage the Constitution mandates should not be less than 60 percent for all time to come, is under tremendous pressure from the soaring demand for prayer flags that dot the country\u2019s hills and valleys.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Although no studies have been carried out on the impact on the forest by felling trees for flag posts, statistics with the department of forest show that thousands of trees are felled every year to meet this demand.Between June 2007 to 2008, Bhutan felled 60,178 trees, or about 165 trees every day, to meet the demand for poles, of which demand for flag posts is the highest. This excludes the 550 trees felled daily for other uses.<\/p>\n

The forestry divisions grant permits for poles, which are used either for prayer or chadi flag poles, makeshift huts, cattle sheds and even in construction. \u201cBut the maximum is for prayer flag poles,\u201d said an official of the department\u2019s information unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an immense pressure on the forest,\u201d said the forest department\u2019s officiating director, Gopal Mahat. \u201cIt\u2019s a drain on the resource, but we can\u2019t stop granting permits, especially for an important rite because it involves sentiments,\u201d he said, referring to prayer flags being dedicated to a deceased member of a family. \u201cThe demand is for straight, young trees, which have the potential of becoming crop trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most Bhutanese, mani or Guru prayer flags, dedicated to a deceased, are an indispensable part of after-death rituals. The ideal number is 108, but some believe that more flags bring more merit. To add to the pressure, freshly cut trees are always preferred. \u201cIf you reuse an old flag pole, you aren\u2019t putting effort, which means the merit earned is compromised,\u201d said a dratshang lopon, Gyem Tshering. \u201cIdeally, you should hoist 108 flags, but if you can afford more, it\u2019ll help the dead find the \u2018white path.\u201d<\/p>\n

This puts Bhutan\u2019s forest management in a predicament. A forest divisional officer last year said that, at the rate at which trees are felled, Bhutan\u2019s forest would be gone in the next 20 years. Those in the field say that they are penetrating deeper and deeper into the forest to provide people with their entitlement as per the forestry rule. \u201cTrees for flag posts are getting scarce. If we\u2019ve to meet the demand, our forest would have to be cleared,\u201d said a beat officer. \u201cWe\u2019re being selective but for how long?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thimphu dzongkhag has four beat offices. The Semtokha office since January this year permitted 377 trees to be cut from their area. However, officials said trees were not cut randomly. \u201cWe ensure that catchment areas are protected, while thinning is strictly practised, which would actually help trees grow faster,\u201d said a beat officer.<\/p>\n

To ease the pressure, the Thimphu forest divisional office restricted the number of prayer flags post to 29 trees in urban Thimphu.<\/p>\n

At the ministry, secretary Sherub Gyaltshen calls the pressure on forest \u201ctremendous\u201d. \u201cThe pressure on forest is from all sides \u2013 from flags post to hydropower, transmission lines and even illegal encroachment,\u201d said the secretary. \u201cWe\u2019re discussing this every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet there is no clear solution in sight.<\/p>\n

The secretary said that some alternatives like using bamboo and steel posts were encouraged, but people were not keen on the steel posts. However, the natural resources development corporation has started bamboo plantation to supplement the demand.<\/p>\n

Sherub Gyaltshen said that the pressure is difficult to control, but said that, with effort, the 60 percent mandate would be achieved. The best solution they tried is making people participate in forest resource management. \u201cInstead of government being restrictive, we\u2019re encouraging people to participate. This is working,\u201d he said. \u201cThe national forest policy also focuses on forest resource management and utilisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other alternative, Gopal Mahat suggested, was to discourage people from killing trees. \u201cBuddhist teachings say killing a tree is a sin. Maybe, we\u2019ll have to use this to counter the strong sentiments attached with mani prayer flags.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Ugyen Penjore<\/em><\/span>
\nSource: Kuenselonline<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When sentiment clashes with common sense, something\u2019s got to give Environment : Part III September, 2009 – Bhutan\u2019s verdant forests, whose coverage the Constitution mandates should not be less than 60 percent for all time to come, is under tremendous pressure from the soaring demand for prayer flags that dot the country\u2019s hills and valleys. … Continue reading The prayer flag and the forest<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[205,374,481,610,1351],"class_list":["post-790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-environment","tag-bhutan","tag-culture","tag-environment","tag-gross-national-happiness-gnh","tag-sustainable-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}