Press Release

The Agreement between the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the Royal Government of Bhutan regarding development cooperation on Institutional Cooperation between Bhutan’s Department of Hydropower and Power Systems (DHPS) and Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) for the project “Strengthening of the Energy Sector – Phase IV” and Bhutan’s Department of Geology Mines (DGM) and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute for “Mitigation of Geo-hazards related to Hydropower-Phase IV” was signed on May 14^th 2012 between Ms. Ann Ollestad, H.E. Ambassador, Royal  Norwegian Embassy and Mr. Karma Tshiteem, Secretary, Gross National Happiness Commission on behalf of the Royal Government of Bhutan. The Ambassador was in the kingdom also to attend Bhutan-Norway Annual consultation meeting.

A total financial grant of Nu. 288 million has been committed by the Norad to support the accelerated hydropower development program of the country, to increase the institutional capacity within the energy sector in Bhutan and to further mitigate geo-hazards associated with hydropower development. Since Phases I, II and III (2001-2011) of the cooperation have made substantial contributions to the development of the institutional capacity of the sectors, Phase IV will build on the past achievements with a view to prepare more hydropower projects for development as per the Hydropower Policy of the country and to manage risks, identify hazards and develop early warning systems for mitigating natural hazards threatening lives and property.

The project will be implemented over a span of three years (May 2012-April 2015).

02 April 2012

Event organized by the Permanent Mission of Bhutan
Part-II

Part- I

Earlier this year, I received the final report of my Global Sustainability Panel.

Among its 56 recommendations was the importance of establishing a Sustainable Development Index, or a set of indicators to measure progress towards sustainable development.

The panel noted that, while material prosperity is important, it is far from being the only determinant of well-being.

Such thinking dates back to the earliest times.

It can be found, for example, in the teachings of the Buddha and Aristotle.

More recently, measuring success by wealth alone has been questioned in the groundbreaking Brundtland Report of 1987, the Human Development Index and the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, established by President Sarkozy of France.

Bhutan has recognized the supremacy of national happiness over national income since the early 1970s.

It has famously adopted the goal of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product.

Such thinking is now gaining ground in other regions.

Costa Rica is well known for being the greenest country in the world – an example of holistic and environmentally responsible development.

Compared to other countries with similar income levels, it ranks higher in human development and is a beacon of peace and democracy.

In the United Kingdom, statistical authorities are experimenting with “National Well-being”.

The European Commission has its “GDP and Beyond” project.

And the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has its guidelines of measurement of well-being.

Gross National Product has long been the yardstick by which economies and politicians have been measured.

Yet it fails to take into account the social and environmental costs of so-called progress.

We need a new economic paradigm that recognizes the parity between the three pillars of sustainable development.

Social, economic and environmental well-being are indivisible.

Together they define gross global happiness.

There are now less than 75 days to the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.

Sustainable development is one of the top priorities for my second term.

The world stands at a crossroads.

We need everyone – government ministers and policy makers, business and civil society leaders, and young people – to work together to transform our economies… to place our societies on a more just and equitable footing… and to protect the resources and ecosystems on which our shared future depends.

Connecting the dots between these issues — between water, food and energy security, climate change, urbanization, poverty, inequality and the empowerment of the world’s women – lies at the heart of sustainable development.

But it will take resolute will from all sectors of society.

Sustainable development recognizes that our economic, social and environmental objectives are not competing goals that must be traded off against each other, but are interconnected objectives that are most effectively pursued together in a holistic manner.

We need an outcome from Rio+20 that reflects this.

An outcome that says that happiness and well-being are measured in more than gross national income – and that they are fundamental goals in themselves.

I thank the Government of Bhutan, and the Prime Minister, for convening this meeting, and I wish you a most productive debate.

Thank you very much.

Source : http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=5966

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The workshop and training aimed at providing familiarization on 11th FYP planning guidelines for the local government. In this attempt, the Dzongkhag Planning Officers were trained on how to identify needs of the Dzongkhag, identify Dzongkhag Key Result Areas (DKRAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Interventions (KIs) keeping in mind the GNH oriented result base planning.

The report takes stock of the progress made thus far in each of the 22 goals and identifies issues and concerns that require more attention. It is also intended to raise awareness among the decision makers and renew political commitments to these important goals.

The SDG report 2011 shows that Bhutan is on track on most of the indicators. Under the livelihood theme, Bhutan has fared well in the areas of reducing poverty and hunger, reducing inequality, increasing rural infrastructures, increasing access to justice, and in mainstreaming concerns of women and children. Challenges, however, remain in addressing rising unemployment, especially among the youth. With regard to the health theme, the report reveals that child and maternal health have improved. Incidences of tuberculosis and malaria have also decreased while access to safe drinking water and sanitation has increased. However, shortage of doctors continues to be a problem.

In the area of education, gross enrolment ratio has exceeded 100 % with 117 % in 2010. Bhutan has achieved gender parity at both primary and secondary levels. However, the adult literacy rate was low with only 52.8 % in 2005. With respect to environment conservation, 72.5 % of the land area is covered with forest, out of which 51.32% of the land area is designated as protected areas and biological corridors. The quality of air, water and soil is not a major concern. However, solid waste disposal is increasingly becoming an environmental problem, especially in the urban areas of Thimphu and Phuentsholing.

The report will soon be published and will be distributed to relevant agencies.

• Download the SDG Report 2011

The Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister unveiled the plan today at the Asia-Pacific Conference on measuring Well-being and the Progress of Societies.

The GNH secretary Karma Tshiteem is also attending the conference.

The index will evaluate people’s well-being using three benchmarks- household wealth, physical and mental health, and community and social ties.

The benchmarks will be based on data such as poverty rates, suicides, perceptions of family ties and fears about radiation. The data collection will start next year.

Mining Policy 6 October, 2011 – Differences between the Gross National Happiness (GNH) commission and geology and mines department on the mining policy has only caused it to further protract the process of its passage.

The policy will also have to be put through the GNH screening test.

This time the dispute was on a new provision that was incorporated in the draft policy, which would require an agency to carry out strategic environment assessment (SEA).

The need to carry out the assessment was one that the GNH commission had suggested and, consequently, the provision was incorporated during the drafting of the policy.

The question remained as to which agency would carry out the assessment though. Geology and mines director general Sonam Yangley said the department could not carry out such studies, since it had to be done at a national level, and by an agency that has a national influence.

The assessment would study all the sectors of the economy and different planned activities in a particular area of influence, and provide best methodologies to implement different activities in a cost effective way, and with minimum environment damage.

The study would also provide better directions to carrying out mining activities, avoid cost duplication, reduce environment impact, and suggest better options and alternatives.

Since carrying out such assessment, Sonam Yangley said, would require studying all the sectors, and that the geology and mines would focus only on the mining sector.

“It needs to be done at a national level,” he said. “It’d be important, especially in the mining sector, since it has a direct bearing on the environment and can also determine land use.”

When the policy was handed over to GNH commission for scrutiny, it was sent back with a changed version of the SEA.

“The provision within the SEA the commission drafted was unclear as to who should carry out the SEA studies,” geology and mines officials said. “Once the issue about the SEA is sorted out, the policy will go through the GNH screening test.”

Sonam Yangley said they had yet to hear from GNH commission officials. Meanwhile, geology and mines officials were skeptical about the tools applied in screening the policy, which they said were subjective, in that some of the tools were just not appropriate for a policy of such a kind.

“My concern isn’t about the mining policy failing to clear the test, but the exercise may pass some bad policies and reject good ones,” Sonam Yangley said, adding some of the tools applied in the exercise, and the way in which it was done could be subjective.

GNH commission officials, in the meantime, said they have still not specified who should carry out the SEA study. “Most probably, it should be carried out by an independent consultant, since such a study requires specialised skills,” a commission official said.

This is a challenge to which the Bhutanese must rise to, although it’s not of its making, stated the recently launched Human Development Report.

“Sustaining Bhutan’s human development progress must form a national priority and the basis for international cooperation,” the report stated. “Actions to address climate change by the government should now be aligned by the Five Year Plans.”

At the moment, there is no specific national policy or program for climate change adaptation and mitigation for Bhutan to guide external assistance, apart from the National Adaptation Plan of Action.

Mainstreaming environment into policies is one of the 14 recommendations the report has made for Bhutan to address the challenges of climate change.

Bhutan needs to have a framework in place to guide and implement how it would remain carbon neutral, a pledge it has made to the world. “There is now an urgent need for the country to draw up an integrated strategy and implementation action plan beyond remaining carbon neutral,” the report stated.

For this, Bhutan needs financial and technical assistance in instituting measures that will meet both mitigation and adaptation needs specific to local areas, the report said.

Another recommendation is to strengthen research and capacity development on climate change to produce reliable and accurate information.

It should also develop the meteorological and hydrological services by improving the capacity to collect and analyse weather data, as well as prepare early warning and hazard forecasting.

The report recommends Bhutan to promote green industry and stated that its needs to curtail consumption of fossil fuels by industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Due to climate change, the main potential impacts in Bhutan are water related and could influence the development of the hydropower sector and agriculture, the report found. It therefore recommends measures to address climate sensitivities in these areas.

One in three farmers report food insufficiency and subsistence agriculture is under threat by climate change, the report said.

Another important recommendation is to protect education infrastructure from climate shocks, and to make climate education part of curricula.

“Link targets and strategies for achieving universal primary education to strategies for ensuring that every school built is climate resilient,” the report stated.

Bhutan should also provide psychological wellbeing services to climate victims and survivors.

“Human development is at acute risk of stalling or reversal due to climate shocks,” the report stated. “This is a concern that must come to the centre of Bhutan policy design, development strategies and implementation.”

One of the proposed projects is the Taklai irrigation scheme that has been damaged from consecutive floods.

Under the KR II 2012 project, Bhutan proposed assistance of 350 two-wheeler tractors with rotary tiller, 350 single reversible ploughs, 10 combined harvesters and 50 power threshers.

The third proposal is assistance from Japan for the construction of an 800m long motorable bridge over the MaoKhola in Gelephu that cost around Nu 327M.

Reconstruction of the 325m long Diana Kuenphen bridge in Samtse, that’s estimated to cost about USD 18.20M is the fourth proposal.

One of the four proposed projects for technical cooperation includes the development of an integrated GLOF early warning system, with operational capacity enhancement for climate change adaption in Mangdechu and Chamkharchu river basins.

Bhutan also proposed technical assistance from Japan to strengthen farm mechanism phase II; to strengthen the community policing system; in the development of national procedure for technical assessment of manufacturing pharmaceutical firms and establishing inspection.

Commenting on the proposals, director of country assistance planning division of Japan, Shuichi Tokuda, said the proposals were taken note of and would be looked at in the order of importance.

“The MaoKhola bridge being the first proposal of the year and, if it’s very important, then we need to take a closer look at it,” Shuichi Tokuda said.

Director of the department of bilateral affairs with the foreign ministry Thinley Penjor expressed Bhutan’s appreciation and satisfaction for the country’s progress from Japan’s assistance.

“Today, the quantum of assistance have increased and diversified into many vital sectors, such as agriculture, energy, roads, telecommunication, health and education.” he said.

In terms of sharing best practices, Bhutan, he said, is appreciative of how many experts and volunteers from Japan continued to inspire the communities by working closely and sharing their expertise in remote Bhutan.

In the first four years of the 10th five year plan, Bhutan received a grant of USD 166.81M from Japan.

Today, there are four grant aid projects, seven technical cooperation projects and two rural electrification projects under implementation in Bhutan.

The rural electrification projects is expected to benefit 19,050 households across the country.

Two grant projects of KR II 2008 and improvement of machinery and equipment for the construction of rural agriculture road phase II are complete.

A technical cooperation project on the construction of education facilities is also completed.

Shuichi Tokuda also said the Japanese foreign ministry last year suggested the need for a policy to give its ODA assistance.

“Japanese assistance policy for Bhutan would be made by next September,” he said. “Discussions for the policy have just started.”