Bhutan: A Country That Knows How to Protect Its Environment

Amid majestic tigers and teak plantations, Dasho Paljor J. Dorji’s boyhood treks through remote southern Bhutan with his father, the country’s last prime minister, were an exotic idyll that could enchant any youth.

The trips, no holiday, gave the conservation-minded prime minister the chance to establish lush forest reserves and wildlife sanctuaries in acts that were “way ahead of his time,” the younger Dorji recalls more than 30 years later.

Now when he looks at Bhutan, Dorji, deputy minister for social services, still sees a dazzling Himalayan land comparatively unburdened by global problems of deforestation, soil erosion and threats to wildlife. And, in his father’s tradition, he is a uniquely placed leader in the efforts to keep it that way.

Largely through the efforts of Dorji, recognized last year by the United Nations for his own achievements in the field of conservation, Bhutan is poised as a rare environmental success in the developing world.

For various reasons--including farsighted leadership, devout adherence to Buddhist principles and a solid partnership with the World Wildlife Fund--this tiny kingdom has been able, thus far, to balance conservation and development, while larger nations have seen their environment ravaged.

“We all want to be good human beings,” Dorji said earlier this month in an interview at the World Wildlife Fund’s Washington headquarters. “And a good human being has a responsibility not only to himself and his community, but also to all the other things that surround him.”

What surrounds the Bhutanese today is a system of 10 protected areas covering 20% of the country, including a national park in what is considered one of Asia’s most environmentally crucial regions.

In a nation barely 100 miles wide and 200 miles long--about one-tenth the size of California--can be found an astonishing range of animal and plant species, as well as a wide variety of climatic zones, from the tropics to the cold, high Himalayas.

Besides tigers, the inhabitants of the steamy southern crescent of Bhutan include rhinos, elephants, water buffalo and golden langurs, one of the rarest primates in the world. In the mountain mists are found snow leopards, blue sheep and golden takin, shaggy animals that resemble a curious amalgam of ox, goat and moose. Plant aficionados can delight in rare orchids and fiery slopes of rhododendron.

To protect those velvety slopes, the national forest policy declares it is designed to “ensure primarily the preservation of the environment and only thereafter derivation of economic benefits that flow from a rationally managed resource.” Under this policy, the royal government hopes to maintain forests over no less than 60% of the country.

“Conservation in Bhutan is unlike conservation anywhere else in the world,” Bruce Bunting, vice president of the World Wildlife Fund’s Asia program, declared in a recent issue of the fund’s newsletter.

Bunting says the Bhutanese are “doing things right from the start” and rates their country among the fund’s top priorities in Asia.

The environmental fight in Bhutan, however, is far from over. Dorji stressed that Bhutan, like other developing nations, faces lucrative offers for its natural resources and is under “tremendous pressure” to increase its indebtedness.

It, for example, already needs to buy a second commercial jet, less than a year after it took delivery of its first, he said. The cost is likely to run to $50 million--a significant sum in a country where the gross national product less than a decade ago was barely twice that figure.

“Where does all the money come from?” Dorji asked. “Trees? What if you don’t want them to cut trees?”

Without the forest cover, he warned, the topsoil will erode--resulting in the brown, denuded hillsides that characterize much of the Himalayas.

Dorji, 46, praises Bhutan’s young, dynamic king, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, for his conservation efforts, saying the monarch--who is also his cousin--”is very aware of the need for conservation, of the situation that we face.”

Indeed, the king has held firm when faced with tough decisions of development versus environment. In 1986, he rejected a project by the World Bank to build a dam in southern Bhutan because it would have flooded part of Royal Manas National Park, a masterpiece of nature on the Indian border and one of the areas initially protected by Dorji’s father, Jigme Dorji, in the 1950s.

The king also ordered construction halted on a major marble quarry, declaring the site “visually polluting.”

Noting Bhutan’s very small industrial base and slowly growing population of 1.5 million--only 5% of the country is even inhabited or cultivated--Dorji says he has seen no harm to employment as a result of such royal decisions.

To supplement government efforts, Dorji, whose title dasho connotes a high form of respect, in 1987 formed the Royal Society for the Preservation of Nature, a nongovernmental group devoted to environmental issues. At the same time, his duties with the Ministry of Social Services include overseeing the education, health, housing and public works departments.

Even with “tremendous” moral support from the government and his colleagues, Dorji acknowledges that it is difficult to obtain funding. On his U.S. tour, he discussed conservation issues with members of World Wildlife Fund’s board of directors and other patrons.

Now, in a plan that would be the first of its kind, he has proposed a trust fund to function as a reverse “debt-for-nature” swap, rewarding Bhutan for its foresight. Usually in such cases, environmentally degraded countries are given money by international groups to relieve their national debt in exchange for supporting a number of conservation efforts.

“At this point, debt-for-nature swap means just rewarding the naughty boys,” Dorji said. “And we’re saying, ‘How about us good guys?’ . . . We’re the ones who sacrifice certain incomes so that we can preserve the ecosystem in our country.”

“It’s a shame there isn’t some compensation for Bhutan’s contribution to the global environment,” Bunting of the wildlife fund agreed in a recent interview. “By maintaining its environment now, Bhutan won’t have to pay back 20 or 30 years from now.”

Acknowledging that Bhutan could be an environmental role model, Dorji said, “Bhutan has always played a low-key role on most issues in the world because we felt that was adequate. But I think when it comes to certain issues we can play a role whereby we could make this world a better place to live in.”

The country’s youth will assume much of that role, Dorji believes: “I’m betting my entire program on the next generation.”

As an example, he cited the popularity of a nationwide nature art and essay competition, held in 150 schools in conjunction with “environment day.” By 1988, its second year, the contest already was so popular that only five students from each school, chosen by their peers, were allowed to submit entries.

Overall, the government has incorporated environmental education into every primary and secondary school; in remote areas of the country, a new mobile audio-visual education program also is starting up, focusing on nature, agriculture and health.

Although many Bhutanese are just now becoming aware of their country’s environmental efforts, Bunting said his 10 trips to Bhutan have convinced him they support not only the concept but also those trying to implement the policy.

“In a lot of countries, a forest guard is just a forest guard, but in Bhutan he’s recognized as a contributor to the good of society,” he said. “There’s a sense of backing for these guys.”

Meanwhile, Dorji is turning to a study of the elusive takin, the national animal, after focusing for several years on the rare black-necked cranes that have their winter nesting grounds in Bhutan. He has helped establish two protected areas for the cranes and conducted annual counts of the birds.

He remains optimistic about Bhutan’s future, declaring: “Everybody deserves a chance, and I think there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to succeed. . . . We have the right ideas. I think now we’re in a better position to take control.”