From next month, a new six-year project will commence to enhance sustainability and climate resilience of forest and agriculture landscape, and community livelihoods in the country. To fund the project, the government received US$ 14m from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the capital yesterday.
“It will help the national parks system in Bhutan to function effectively. For instance how the animals move between one park to the next and also help all of the communities in the areas surrounding both those parks and those corridors to live fruitful, productive lives,” said the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Bhutan, Niamh Collier-Smith.
Officials from the Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) said under the project they will strengthen management systems in some protected areas in the country.
“We will concentrate on community livelihoods in 12 districts and 38 gewogs. We will revitalise the degraded areas, terraces making it cultivable and enhance the connectivity of farmers with markets in a very big way,” said Pema Bazar, GNHC’s Senior Planning Officer.
The project will complete in 2023 and will be coordinated by GNHC.