Building up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26 scheduled to be held in Scotland from Sunday, the UNDP country office’s final segment of the Climate Series started yesterday. The week-long event intends to create awareness of climate change and promote local solutions to fight the impacts of climate change.
As part of the event, 14 young entrepreneurs venturing into green businesses participated in a Climate Smart Exhibition. The exhibition which will last until tomorrow afternoon showcases eco-friendly businesses including virtual tourism and the use of drone technology for climate actions among others. It is to encourage green entrepreneurship among Bhutanese youth.
Pem Lama, the Director for Operations and Strategy of the Bhutan Ecological Society says their invention can take tourism to the next level.
“The device actually allows us to travel to different places without actually travelling. Travel as we know is one of the most carbon-emitting activities because you are travelling in planes everywhere and that is the main source of GHG emissions in the tourism industry. So, we feel that bringing innovation to the tourism industry will be very interesting,” she said.
Similarly, AeroTech Bhutan is planning to build a drone capable of purifying the air. Anuj Pradhan from AeroTech says there are many drones monitoring the amount of carbon dioxide but none that is purifying. “There are so many industrial areas in our country. For example, in Pasakha there are so many emissions. So, to counteract that and help fight climate change, we can build that drone,” he said.
Over the next few days, the event will also see some of the country’s leading institutions share their commitments to raise climate actions.
“At the end of the series, many institutions will be making concrete pledges of what they will be doing to turn the nationally determined contribution’s agenda into their day-to-day activities and set clear target. As a small mountainous country, I think it is now time for us to show that every one of us is making a pledge to make a concrete commitment at this point in time,” said Azusa Kubota, the Resident Representative of the UNDP.
As per a study by the NEC, the country’s emission level could rise beyond the carbon absorption capacity of the forests by 2050 if businesses continue as usual. This, according to the study, will compromise Bhutan’s carbon-neutral status.
Phub Gyem
Edited by Sonam
