For the first time, Bhutan will have scientific data to study climate change and its impacts on plants and animals in the next five years. The Himalayan mountain eco-system is constantly under threats of negative impacts of climate change. Researchers believe that Bhutan’s eco-system must be manifesting the changes through various phenomenon. But there has not been any study carried in this respect owing to a lack of data.
The data repository is maintained with the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environmental Research (UWICER). The institute is doing so through Himalayan Environmental Rhythms Observation and Evaluation Systems or the HEROES project. 20 schools from across the country are part of this project.
“Because we don’t have comprehensive data and we don’t have any long term effective monitoring system in place we cannot see how and to what extent those changes are happening as of now. So HEROES as a climate monitoring system will not only generate a very comprehensive data on climate and its impact on lifecycles of plants and animals but it is also going to promote understanding and appreciation about how climate is changing in Bhutan and what the impacts on biodiversity in our country will be,” Changa Dorji, a researcher at the UWICER said.
Khasadrapchu Middle Secondary school (KMSS) in Thimphu is one of the schools where climate change is a part of their environmental science curriculum.
The students led by their environmental science teacher records data on climate variables such as temperature and amount of rainfall on a daily basis. They then observe the changes in lifecycles of the plants and feed the data every day online which is received by the UWICER.
“We get to understand interesting facts about the lifecycle of plants and we get to know about climate change from year to year. We can even educate our younger generation regarding climate change. We understand that climate changes from year to year and we need to do these phenology activities so that we can give awareness and measures to people and community around us,” Dorji Wangmo, a student in KMSS said.
“We can know when the flowers would bloom, or new leaves will start to grow, or when the leaves die. Sometimes the plants and trees need favourable conditions to grow well or when will they die due to climate change. We can protect and help the plants grow,” Karma Phuntsho, from the same school added.
“So it is really easy to connect these variables to climate change. Firstly the change in weather patterns. The second one is the pheno observation where we have hands on practice, we are actually observing the lifecycle events of plants. That is real and climate change no more becomes alien to them because then they are so connected with the nature that they understand because of changes in temperature and amount of rainfall and the moisture they are easily able to link,” Tashi Yangzom, Teacher, of KMSS said.
The school even came up with some data analysis and findings in a research paper published in 2017.
“For the National Stem Olympiad, we worked on a paper that is the analysis of the temperature and precipitation variation pattern and climate change in Khasadrapchu and then we used the weather station data of the two variables- temperature and precipitation for the last three years 2014, 2015 and 2016 and then we were able to conclude that the climate at Khasadrapchu was changing. The temperature increased to one degrees Celsius. We also understood that the precipitation is decreasing due to the increase in temperature and the weather has also become erratic,” she shared.
In Bumthang, Jakar Higher Secondary School (JHSS) is the selected school. A Science teacher and two Class 12 students from the school’s Phenology Club are responsible for the project.
“In our school, we have around 10 adopted plants and these plants are specially adopted because these are the species of plants which are very sensitive to the changes which are actually happening with our environment. We compile the data annually out of the observation and then we try to do comparative studies through the different years and then whenever there is an appearance of any kind of new events in the plants, we take photographs and then we upload them online,” Sangay Tenzin, teacher of JHSS said.
“We can learn about how we can contribute to combating climate change as individuals with changing environmental systems and also understanding them through comparative studies.” Rinchen Dorji Tamang, Student in JHSS added.
“It was before last year that we had snowfall in March which destroyed all our plants and they were not able to complete their growth (phenophases). It is very unbelievable that it snowed in March. Actually, we used to get snowfall till January and February in Bumthang. There were fluctuations in the number of cones and flowers the plants bear every year which means that there is something happening with climate change,” PemaTobgyel, a student in the same school said.
There are new findings from other selected schools which the researchers say the observations cannot be directly attributed to climate change for now as climate change requires analysis of long term data.
“Even in Galing Primary school, we have some interesting findings. Ofcourse it may be or may not be because of climate change, but for us, it’s a new observation. For example, in Galing, we have been observing a peach plant for almost five years. What we observed was that the peach plant flowers twice a year- once in spring and once in late autumn. The flowers that bloom in late autumn does not actually form any fruit maybe because of some chilling effects of the winter. But what excites us most is if there is global warming, if there is an increase in temperature, this flowering might actually form fruits and that would mean we will have two fruiting seasons in a year,” Changa Dorji, said.
In the next five years, Bhutan will be one of the few Himalayan countries to have comprehensive data on climate which will be vital for understanding climate change in the region. Climate change study is invaluable for Bhutan as it is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. As per a recent study by the ICIMOD, over 30 per cent of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region could melt by the end of this century.
