Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [71]
The Torsa reserve is in the western part of the Haa district, where the Torsa river enters from Tibet. The 644-sq-km reserve was set aside to protect the temperate forests and alpine meadows of far west Bhutan and is the only protected area with no resident human population.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Bhutan emerged into the 20th century with much of its forests and ecosystems intact. But now, with an increasing population, improved roads and communication and limited farming land, a major effort is required to protect the country’s natural heritage.
Natural-resource utilisation now has equal, if not more, ecological pressures from urban populations as from rural consumers. However, growing awareness of environmental issues has prompted appropriate conservation measures. Among these are requirements for environmental assessments for all new public or private investment projects, and nationwide bans on the commercial export of raw timber and the use of plastic bags. Bhutan has consciously decided to forego immediate economic gain from exploitation of its natural resources in order to preserve its environment for long-term sustainable benefits.
Firewood
Wood is used as fuel in rural areas and in most monasteries (in urban areas cooking gas or kerosene is used), and it was probably only Bhutan’s low population that spared the forests before conservation planning was introduced. Managing firewood harvesting is a major problem. At almost 2.8 cubic metres per person, Bhutan’s annual consumption of firewood is one of the highest in the world – and that represents about 375,000 trees. Wood accounts for 80% of energy consumption, and although the government is promoting electricity as an alternative source of energy, few rural households have electricity.
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You can easily distinguish the chir pine from its relative, the blue pine, because the needles of the chir pine are in groups of three and those of the blue pine are shorter and in groups of five.
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Grazing & Farming Practices
Conservation issues centre on human–wildlife conflicts, such as crop and livestock depredation by wild predators, and the deterioration of high-altitude wildlife habitat from grazing pressure. There are now programs under way to balance the needs of traditional herders and farmers with wildlife protection.
A significant amount of shifting cultivation (‘slash and burn’, called tseri in Dzongkha) is practised in Bhutan, particularly in the east. The practice is officially banned and several methods, including education and fertiliser supply, are being implemented to change this practice.
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GLOBAL WARMING’S FIRST CASUALTIES?
According to those with vested interests, global warming from human activity has yet to be proven. Meanwhile small villages in Bhutan and other regions of the Himalaya, which hardly contribute to the greenhouse gas surplus, are preparing to be the first casualties of the very real rise in global temperatures. Across the Himalaya, glacier lakes are filling up with melt water, and in recent decades scientists have documented a tenfold jump in glacier-lake outbursts. In Bhutan there are currently 24 lakes poised to burst.
In 1994 a glacier-lake outburst in Bhutan swept 10 million cubic metres of water down the Pho Chhu. It flooded a number of villages and killed 23 people in Punakha, 80km away. While too much water is pouring from the mountains now, a probable longer term consequence of the shrinking Himalayan glaciers is a significantly reduced water supply to almost a quarter of the world’s population in India, China and Pakistan.
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Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti by Kunzang Choden describes Bhutanese beliefs about where and how this mysterious creature may live.
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Poaching
While the Bhutanese generally observe their own conservation policies, the open southern and northern borders offer opportunities for poaching of both plant and animal life. Many species are sought for their alleged medicinal or other valuable properties. Killing and