Nina Conrad
Climate change is a fact but countries around the world are struggling to reduce their CO2-emissions to stop global warming. There is only one country managing to not emit any CO2 at all. In fact, this country is even managing to offset CO2. Bhutan is the only country on earth that is carbon negative! It is a net carbon sink for more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.3 More than half of Bhutan is protected land and 72% of the land mass is under forest cover.3 Over the last 45 years, a small, little-known country in the distant Himalayas quietly and unassumingly became a conservation treasure. And that is the reason why we all should live life like people in Bhutan to fight global warming.
Bhutan’s story
Bhutan is a small country in the Himalayas sandwiched between two of the most populated countries on earth, China and India. This might be the reason why we usually don’t hear much about Bhutan and its people. But my oh my they have a lot to tell! Like said before Bhutan is the only country on earth that is carbon negative. But how come? To understand Bhutan’s story, we must go back in time.
In 2008 the Bhutanese king Jigme Singye Wangchuk announced the introduction of a constitution with the aim of making Bhutan a democratic-constitutional monarchy. Since then, political parties can be constituted in the country and the country is governed by elected representatives. The king then retired at the age of 51 and ordered that in future all kings will hand over the crown to the heir to the throne on their 65th birthday at latest.3 What a great man! They didn’t even have to fight for democracy.
Saving the trees
In said constitution it is demanded that 60% of (Bhutanese) land shall be maintained under forest cover for all time.4 It is the only country whose constitution mandates that amount of forest cover for an infinite time period.5 And that is the exact reason why even more than that, in total 71% of Bhutanese land, is under forest cover.4 The entire country generates 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, but their forests sequester more than three times that amount.3 Bhutan is a net carbon sink for more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide each year,3 also seen in the figure below.
Adding to that, they generate renewable energy from their fast-flowing rivers and export most of it. With that the clean energy they export offsets about 10 million tons of carbon dioxide in their neighborhood.3 If they would even harvest half their hydropower potential the export would offset something like 50 million tons of carbon dioxide (more CO2 than NY generates in one year).3
In addition to the 71% of land under forest cover Bhutan protects more than half of the entire land. Each protected area relates to each other to enable animals to roam throughout the country.3 Like this Bhutan is protecting its nature and enabling flora and fauna to thrive while wildlife again can gain the upper hand.
“We are doing ok, we are surviving. In fact, we are thriving. And the reason we are thriving is because we’ve been blessed with extraordinary kings. Our enlightened monarchs have worked tirelessly to develop a country balancing economic growth carefully with social development, environmental sustainability and cultural preservation all within the framework of good governance. We call this holistic approach to development “Gross National Happiness”, or “GNH”
– Tshering Tobgay 3
Gross National Happiness (GNH)
Gross National Happiness was first discussed and adopted by the Fourth King of Bhutan in the 1970s which is essentially a Buddhist philosophy that “measures the quality of a country in a more holistic way (than GDP) and believes that the beneficial development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other”.4
“Gross National Happiness” is more important than “Gross National Product”.
– Tshering Tobgay 3
Bhutan’s commitment to sustainability is manifest through its unique development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which looks beyond gross domestic product (GDP) growth to measure progress, and in so doing values environmental sustainability as an integral component of development.5
Climate change and economic growth
You might wonder why Bhutan is not voted for best country yet? Well it’s not all that great. Bhutan is a poor country affected by climate change like every other place on this earth. Their Glaciers are melting causing floods and disaster in the whole country. Due to the rising temperatures their water resources are drying up. This will have implications for the availability of water for drinking as well as for the hydropower plants, which currently generate more than 99 percent of Bhutan’s energy. The other sector that is impacted is the agricultural sector. Yields have been decreasing, and communities are facing challenges to cope with climate change impacts such as erratic rainfall, landslides, floods, pests and diseases.1 Naming only a few of the problems Bhutan is facing now.
In addition to that, Bhutan’s growth in the recent past comes with higher rates of waste generation. The government of Bhutan recognizes this and notes that rapid urbanization, increasing affluence, and population growth will increase the amount of waste generated.2 Economic growth also comes with more CO2 emissions. Bhutan’s CO2 are predicted to rise in future, seen in the figure above. Giving Bhutan yet another challenge to conquer.
But Bhutan is not only keeping their CO2 emissions low by planting trees. Everything Bhutanese people use and cook their daily meals with is cultivated within the country and is all natural. Bhutan is investing in sustainable transport and subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles. The entire government is even trying to go paperless. They are cleaning up the country through “Clean Bhutan” and planting trees throughout the country through “Green Bhutan” another national program.3 Bhutan cares a lot about their people, like GNH already implements. They even provide free electricity for rural farmers, so they will no longer have to use firewood to cook their food.3
The Bhutanese Dream
Does Bhutan have money to finance all the projects going on now? The obvious answer is no. Their country and their people have done nothing to contribute to global warming, but they are already bearing the brunt of its consequences. Giving them even more financial problems. And for a small poor country it is very difficult, but they are not going to sit on their hands and do nothing, they will give everything to fight climate change. Bhutanese People are dreaming of affecting the whole world with their philosophy and care for nature to fight global warming and give nature their legal share back.
“I invite you to help me, to carry this dream beyond our borders to all those who care about our planet’s future. After all, we’re here to dream together, to work together, to fight climate change together, to protect our planet together.
Because the reality is, we are in it together.”
– Tshering Tobgay
Conclusion
The goal of this article is not to convince you to drop everything and “live life like people in Bhutan”. But I am encouraging you to take on this Bhutanese view of life and nature and think about what you could change in your life to prevent a country like Bhutan from loosing their glaciers, their water resources and much more due to climate change. Because not only Bhutan but the whole world is facing consequences of global warming.
Bhutan, a poor country in the Himalayas, with no financial medium managed to stay carbon negative although they are facing various problems. They anchored it in their constitution to save planet earth, to give back to nature and to plant as many trees as possible. With their way of living, their philosophy of gross national happiness they managed to do something many countries fail to do, because these countries follow profit and growth instead of happiness like Bhutan. I am sure we can all cut a piece of the Bhutanese philosophy and contribute it to act and fight climate change in our everyday life.
References:
[1] https://medium.com/@UNDP/keeping-bhutan-carbon-neutral-df239af75369
[2] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/bhutan/
[4] Sustainability in an Emerging Nation: The Bhutan Case Study by Dorji Yangka, Peter Newman, Vanessa Rauland and Peter Devereux (pdf)
[5] http://www.bfl.org.bt/bflsite/public/app/solution
Media:
Figure 1: [2] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/bhutan/
Media Attributions
- climate action tracker bhutan