Bhutan has attracted a lot of global attention in the ongoing United Nations Framework on Climate Change; International newspapers have quoted Bhutan saying it has the most ambitious pledge and that the world can learn a lot from Bhutan.
Bhutan’s climate action plan submitted ahead of the Paris COP 21 includes a host of measures to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Some of the measures include exploring alternative modes of transport such as railways, waterways, and gravity ropeways.
However, even as the country remains carbon negative, more and more people are beginning to feel the impact of climate change.
This year, over Nu 24 M worth of crops were damaged across the country. Officials from the agriculture ministry said, the crop damage, this year due to climate related hazards, was unprecedented.
Also, emissions from the energy sector, industries, transport, and waste management has been increasing over the years.
According to agriculture ministry officials, the biggest threat of climate change to Bhutan would be either too much water or too less.
“Our water resources would be severely affected. Firstly, if you go back north, our glaciers are retreating fast and secondly the rivers are also drying up, these also may be the consequent impact of our community and our leaders not engaging into finding out the real causes of climate change,” said Department of Forest’s Director General, Chencho Norbu.
According to Bhutan’s climate action plan, the absorbing capacity of the forest is 6.3 million tonnes of Co2 while the emissions is around 2.2 million tonnes, which makes Bhutan a net carbon sink of 4 million tonnes of co2.
Besides glaciers, Bhutan’s preservation effort today is also shifting towards watersheds that contribute over 90 percent of water to generate the hydropower projects. Preserving watersheds not only ensures a continuous flow of water but also reduces flash-floods to which Bhutan is highly vulnerable.
As climate change becomes more and more inevitable, Bhutan’s adaptation measures also include improved weather forecasting system, crop insurance, and cold storage facilities for farmers.
