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Bhutan?
1994 and the other in 2004. There is a clear sign of danger to nature and humans. Species are
also getting lost. Sub tropical diseases which were unknown to us are beginning to emerge in
the temperate climate of Bhutan. Mosquitoes are becoming a big problem in Thimpu, which
never saw mosquitoes before. We are grappling with diseases never seen before in the region
Agriculture is also bearing the brunt. The size of the land holdings is reducing because of
erosion and degradation. Monsoon has become very erratic. Bhutan always had clear four
seasons but now weather is quite unpredictable. There are very clear signs of cyclones and
mini-cyclones, which were unheard of earlier because we are far away from the sea. All this
is because of climate change, which at least we did not contribute to.
What adaptation or mitigation measures is Bhutan taking to deal with these challenges?
Transport sector is our main focus area. We plan to build extensive user-friendly public
transport and discourage the use of private cars. The culture of buying cars is growing in
Bhutan. There are already 60,000 plus vehicles for a population is just 700,000. We are
planning to discourage it by putting heavy taxes on cars. We are coming up with ropeways,
special pedestrian zones and user-friendly public transport infrastructure. We have also
declared first Sunday of every month as a pedestrian day. No vehicles are allowed on roads
on this day. We want to use Compressed Natural Gas in public transport but it is very costly
for us.
hydropower plants. For agriculture, we are researching and promoting resilient seeds. We
have also identified six lakes which are in danger. We are working to save them.
As the ecosystem of Bhutan is very fragile, we have some non-negotiables which we cannot
trade off with anything to stay firm on our goal of staying carbon neutral. For instance,
Bhutan also has strong laws on combating climate change. We have National Environment
Protection Act that covers climate change. And we are drafting a National Environment
Impact Assessment law. I chair the climate change technical committee of Bhutan. It is an
inter-state committee that has all the relevant agencies like hydropower and agriculture under
its umbrella. We develop mechanisms and bylaws on how to implement various mitigation
But most developing countries say that there is no money to implement adaptation and
Bhutan has been very fortunate. We are getting money from United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We have already implemented the first project
on adaptation—Adapting to the climate change impact—with $6 million fund from
UNFCCC. We are now in the process of starting another project on early warning signals.
The impacts of climate change can be sudden and devastating. Cloudbursts can happen any
time. The project is about ensuring that the communities get warning signals before the
possible climate disasters. This also includes educating communities about how to prepare
themselves in advance. We are installing sensors that make a buzzing sound on sensing
trouble. For example, if water level rises beyond a certain level, we get to know around 7-8
hours before it would cause any damage. This helps the government and communities to act
in time.
We have also distributed mobile phone to the communities so that we can communicate with
them, and they can communicate with each other in times of crisis. We have divided Bhutan
into different zones depending upon their sensitivity to get affected by any climate hazards.
We do not encourage settlements in high risk zones. But in case communities already living
in hazard zones do not want to move out, we are training them in hazard preparedness.
Is it true that all the policies and projects in Bhutan have to pass happiness test before
they can see the light of the day? What is this happiness test?
Unlike other countries, we believe that real development is not just about how good is your
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is much more than that. In Bhutan, we have Gross
National Happiness (GNH). The idea is simple: happiness is governed by many factors
including psychological well-being, culture, environment and time value. Life is about
balance. There are around 70 such variables that are strictly adhered to while framing any
policy or passing any project. We have a panel of experts who ensure that every project that
comes on the soil of Bhutan passes the happiness test. In Bhutan we are trying to understand
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/bhutan-pursuit-happiness.