WWF: Himalayan nations must move rapidly to commit to efforts that build resilience to the impacts of climate change and generate resources for adaptation, capacity building and technology transfer. The Himalayan glaciers are the water towers of Asia, and the source of many of the world’s great rivers: The Yangtze, the Ganges, the Indus and [...]

Deccanchronical: At a time when the world recognises that mere GDP growth as a development goal is a false promise, and with the UN now making “happiness” a development goal, a number of countries are turning to the little Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for lessons. Bhutan pioneered the concept of Gross National Happiness some 35 [...]

World Crunch: Melting glaciers in the Himalayas put the small Kingdom of Bhutan at risk. Not only are the “frozen reservoirs” a fundamental water source, but the melting can also cause GLOFS – aka: ‘mountain tsunamis’ – killer flash floods that occur when glacial lakes suddenly burst. The Kingdom of Bhutan, tucked between India and [...]

CNN: Bhutan is the last of the Himalayan kingdoms. The small country is situated in the nooks and crannies of the highest mountain range on earth. It’s a special place that didn’t have paved roads until the 1960s, was off-limits to foreign tourists until the 1970′s, and didn’t have television until 1999, the last country [...]

Business Bhutan: As the global summit for climate talks approaches, vulnerable countries make a point to form a united voice. A group of 32 vulnerable countries, which created the Climate Change Vulnerable Forum, including Bhutan is set to meet in Dhaka, two weeks ahead of UN climate talks (the 17th Conference of Parties) in Durban, [...]

Dr. R. S. Tolia: Writes this article as his ‘Third Inning’,  days those have been happily spent on reflecting over and about mountains and mountain people. This has taken him to various mountainous parts of India, neighbouring Nepal and recently to the beautiful city and canton of Switzerland, Luzern, in the northern Alps.  Besides learning [...]

Digital Journal: Of late, all is not well with the world’s most wanted caterpillars: the Cordyceps mushrooms, grown exclusively in the Himalayan region. Cordyceps is a rare species of mushroom widely used both in clinical medicine and as a household remedy. There are few countries where Cordyceps grow in the wild. These are Nepal, Bhutan [...]

Forbs: The Last Shangri-la? A Conversation with Bhutan’s Secretary of the National Environment Commission, Dr. Ugyen Tshewang. When flying to Paro, within the Kingdom of Bhutan, one is likely to see Chomolungma (Nepal’s Mount Everest, सगरमाथा) out the left side of the Drukair jet.  You might also view Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the [...]

Sudhirendar Sharma: Writes about the potential of mountain states in India in terms of their natural wealth and kind of benchmark for the services provided by them. By taking examples from developed countries his doubts are about insignificant valuation of tangible ecosystem services, therefore the unlikely transaction of such payments in near future. His discourse [...]

Kuenselonline: The summit next month will not discuss complex climate change issues. Climate change being closely linked by geography, history, culture, economy and ecology, the impact of climate change would be felt by all four countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. To discuss concerns and fine-tune the framework of cooperation, the delegates of the [...]

Kuenselonline: The Big Four ought to do their bit to reduce the waste created from consuming their products. Cold Drinks Companies It is a very common sight to find disposed plastic bottles littering an area almost anywhere in Bhutan. The most common brands on these disposed plastic bottles belong to four major companies of Bhutan Agro, [...]

SERVIR lead scientist Dr. Ashutosh Limaye, will be presenting a report on preliminary climate study that shows temperature, precipitation, and runoff changes in the Wangchu Basin, site of a major dam in Bhutan. The area SERVIR studied in cooperation with the University of Oklahoma is the Wangchu Basin in western Bhutan. The basin is a [...]

Bhutan Today: Carrying candles, the students of Gaddue College of Business Studies walked around Phuentsholing town on October 6. It was neither a celebration nor a demonstration. It was an advocacy march to inform people about global warming and the measures to combat it. According to the president of the College, Chen Tshering, people around [...]

MSNBC: The high peaks of the Himalayas may soon be a beacon for adventurous solar power entrepreneurs, suggests a new study that identified the lofty region as having some of the world’s greatest potential to capture energy from the sun. Other regions not traditionally considered hotbeds of solar power potential include the Andes of South [...]

Bhutan Observer: Bhutan will submit the Second National Communications (SNC) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the COP17 summit in Durban, South Africa, later this year. The national communications is an obligation that all parties to UNFCCC have to fulfill. It is a national report that communicates the actions parties are [...]

Kuensel Online: Is accelerated development of the hydropower sector in conflict with the environment? Mega Projects 8 October, 2011 – Bhutan ambitious plan to tap 10,000MW of hydropower by 2020 (eight years and two months from now) may be following a clean and green path, but what has not been talked about is how it [...]

Syed Iqbal Hasnain:Climate change and black carbon are causing the glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Karakorum, Himalaya, and Tibetan plateau to melt.  Their waters feed the river systems throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia, and are essential for drinking water and for irrigating wheat, rice, and other crops throughout the region on which the local populations [...]

UNEP: The Royal Government of Bhutan, known worldwide as the architect of the philosophy of Gross National Happiness, committed to protect the ozone layer as Royal Bride-to-be, Jetsun Pema, launched the country’s HCFC Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP). Bhutan made a historic commitment to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which are both ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and powerful [...]

Vimal Khawas: Mountains form one of the most important bio-geographical resource zones of the world. They are remote areas covering 52 per cent of Asia, 36 percent of North America, 25 per cent of Europe, 22 per cent of South America, 17 per cent of Australia, and 3 per cent of Africa making up, in [...]

IPS News: At least 200 million people in the world are in danger of being left without water, because they depend for their supply on glaciers that are melting, although paradoxically the process creates the illusion of plentiful water resources. While the average global temperature has risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius in the last 100 [...]

Bhutan Times: Bhutan didn’t bag the much coveted Future Policy Award (FPA) 2011 on environment conservation, but its forest policy did receive an ‘Honorable Mention’ during the international award ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday.Honorable Mention was bestowed to Bhutan for the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, especially Article [...]

Business Bhutan: The impact of climate change on the forests of the alpine zone in Bhutan will have a detrimental effect on the habitat of threatened species including the snow leopard, takin and red panda, claims a World Wildlife Fund report. One of the most enigmatic cats to rule the snow capped mountains in Bhutan, [...]

Pabitra Mukhopadhyay:Water as a resource from management perspective needs to be managed in the mountains very differently as compared to plains. This requires handling few uneasy questions. This essay attempts to see water management of the HKH debunked from global culture] If you live in Hindu Kush Himalayas, most likely you have grown stoic to [...]

International Rivers: When the World Commission on Dams reviewed the development effectiveness of dams, multipurpose projects with large dams, power plants and irrigation schemes had the worst social, environmental and economic track record. As the world is grappling for appropriate answers to climate change, influential actors such as the World Bank want to give these [...]

The Global Adaptation Index (GaIn) summarizes a country’s Vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges on the one hand and its Readiness to improve resilience on the other hand. It aims to help businesses and the public sector better prioritize investments for a more efficient response to the immediate global challenges ahead. Countries of [...]

BioOne: Mountains occupy 24% of the global land surface area and are home to 12% of the world’s population. About 10% of the world’s population depends directly on the use of mountain resources for their livelihoods and wellbeing, and an estimated 40% depends indirectly on them for water, hydroelectricity, timber, biodiversity and niche products, mineral [...]

Environment News Service: Hydropower, the biggest economic driver in the Himalayan country of Bhutan, is threatened by serious water shortages as the country’s glaciers melt due to climate warming, finds Bhutan’s latest National Human Development Report. Many of Bhutan’s glaciers are melting at a higher rate than those in other mountain ranges, according to the [...]

Bhutan Times: It may be difficult to purport that climate change is a growing reality tangibly, but Bhutan is witnessing the impact of climate change if the increase in Bhutan’s average temperatures is anything to go by.Climate change has led to an increase in Bhutan’s average temperature over the years. Although different region and altitudes [...]

BhutanToday: The Earth should be respected. Nature cannot be exploited at the rate it is currently being done. Climate change is a realty that should be mitigated. Everyone should know this, especially students, who are the future of the country. These were the messages Excited conveyed through a participatory approach as students of Lungtenzampa Middle [...]

Bhutan Observer: And advocates green development. While Bhutan is a net carbon sink, it suffers from a human development challenge that is not of its own making. As a result, individuals, households or communities have become vulnerable to climate risks. The human cost of climate shocks and gradual climate change include the increasing risk of [...]

Kuenselonline: Bhutan’s proposals for Japanese assistance include the Maokhola bridge and a GLOF Early Warning System. Sixth Annual Consultation 5 September, 2011 – Bhutan proposed eight projects for grant assistance in survey and technical cooperation from Japan for 2011 during the sixth annual consultation between Bhutan and Japan on September 3 in Thimphu. One of [...]

UNDP: Impressive economic and human development gains that contribute to Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness are threatened by changing climate conditions with the country’s poorest people likely to suffer the worst impact, according to the third National Human Development Report released today in Thimphu. Building resilience is key to the livelihoods of the one quarter of [...]

CNN-Globalpublicsquare: We live in a time of high anxiety. Despite the world’s unprecedented total wealth, there is vast insecurity, unrest, and dissatisfaction. In the United States, a large majority of Americans believe that the country is “on the wrong track.” Pessimism has soared. The same is true in many other places.   Against this backdrop, [...]

Bhutan Today: The Prime Minister, Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley, has issued a dire warning about the impact of Himalayan climate change, saying it could wreck Bhutan’s ambitious plans to be a world leader in hydropower. However, the country is powerless to prevent changes caused by shifting weather patterns that threaten regional water supplies and plans [...]

Kuenselonline: Works on the construction of the 67km Shingkhar-Gorgan secondary national highway will begin as soon as the monsoon is over. The cabinet decided this recently, irrespective of conservationists’ sounding alarm bells against such a move on the government’s part. The Bhutan Ecological Society, the Royal Society for Protection of Nature and the World Wildlife [...]

MYsinchew: Bhutan’s prime minister has issued a dire warning about the impact of Himalayan climate change, saying it could wreck the tiny kingdom’s ambitious plans to be a world leader in hydropower. The isolated, mountainous nation sandwiched between India and China is famed for pursuing “happiness” for its citizens instead of orthodox economic growth, with [...]

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Kuenselonline: In an effort to discourage expansion of nuclear power generation by the government of India, Bhutan is encouraging Nepal to increase exploitation of its hydropower potential, it was revealed at the end of the ‘happiness and economic development’ conference, yesterday (12 Aug). While Nepal has vast hydropower potential, not much of it is tapped. [...]

 Last month when Nagphay harvested the first crop of maize from his 38 decimal land, it barely filled a basket.  This year’s dry spell in May and June not just engulfed Nagphay’s crop, but hit the entire eastern district of Pemagatshel, leaving acres and acres of dried and wilted corn stalks, and hundreds of farmers [...]

Kuensel: The Royal University of Bhutan will become the 24th university under the Earth Institute’s consortium of 23 universities, through which Bhutanese graduates will be provided a two-year degree course on sustainable development, such as poverty, population, health, resource optimisation, climate change and rural development. Called the master’s in development practices (MDP), the courses offered [...]

Bhutantoday: The International Year of Youth proclaimed by the United Nations general assembly from Aug 12 last year will end on Aug 11. The year was marked as an occasion to raise awareness about the situation of young people around the world, integrate youth-related issues into global and regional themes, and increase youth participation in [...]

Thimphu: Bangladesh, India, and Nepal have agreed to Bhutan’s proposal to host a Climate Change Summit scheduled for November. The Summit will look into developing and agreeing on a road map for adapting to climate change, especially across the southern face of the eastern Himalayas; highlight the issues of climate change and its impact on the [...]

BhutanObserver: Bhutan needs to prioritize adaptation and mitigation technologies to fight climate change. This was one of the core issues discussed last week in Thimphu at the inception workshop on Technology Needs Assessment (TNA). TNA is expected to help the country meet its development priorities and maximize its sustainability outcome, especially in reducing   green-house gas [...]

SierraClub:Do you despair that the developing world is starting to consume like we do? That our energy budget is spiralling out of control? Know, then, that Bhutan, the hidden kingdom of the Himalayas, is determined to develop sanely and sustainably. While you wouldn’t want to visit — tourist visas cost hundreds of dollars per day, [...]

CCAFS: The build up to the Bhutan Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas received unprecedented response last week with the completion of expert group meetings on the key themes of water, biodiversity, food security and energy. The Bhutan Climate Summit is an initiative of the Royal Government of Bhutan, and will bring together leaders, decision [...]

Kuensel Online: Farming has been identified as the highest GHG emitter. Lush green paddy or maize fields on which most Bhutanese depend for livelihood may be a carbon sink, but its contribution to the greenhouse gas emission could far outstrip other sectors. A study, which is being undertaken by the national environment commission (Bhutan), states [...]

Bhutan Today: The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Royal Government of Bhutan, yesterday, under the global program to support global pilot Local Climate Change Adaptive Living (LoCAL) program in Bhutan. The UNCDF has committed a total of about Nu 27 million for the first year of [...]

KuenselOnline: Nangkhor and Phobjikha earmarked for pilot project. Zhemgang and Wangdue dzongkhags (Districts in Bhutan) will receive Nu 27M (USD 600,000) from the UN capital development fund (UNCDF) this year for a pilot project to build local resilience or adaptability to the effects of climate change. Of the total fund USD 503,000 will go directly [...]

TheJournalist: WHEN THE four countries, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and including Bhutan, came together for the “Experts’ Group Meeting on Biodiversity” each country presented its own regional issues on the impacts of climate change. The agriculture and forests’ minister, Lyonpo Pema Gyamtsho said that a sound biodiversity was crucial for all aspects of human existence. However, [...]

Bhutanrideforclimate: When Sangay and I were shouldered the prestigious responsibility to lead the group of young bikers for Bhutan Ride for Climate, we shared mixed feelings. I’ve biked all the motorable roads in this mountainous country and the Bhutanese roads are no child’s play. Can the riders make it? How will the weather be, in [...]

Bhutan Govt.: It is a common knowledge that climate change is happening in the Himalayas with the rapid melting of glaciers, erratic and unpredictable weather, changing rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures. In order to build resilience to the impacts of climate change, the need was felt not only to address it at the national level [...]

IBTimes: Even though India, the world’s largest democracy, is an aspiring global power, the country continues to pursue a highly reactive foreign policy, especially when it comes to non-traditional security issues. The absence of a grand strategy or template to meet non-traditional security threats becomes conspicuous whenever the country is confronted with security challenges on [...]

As part of Climate Himalaya Initiative’s Policy Advocacy efforts on various Climate Change issues,  we  are highlighting the sanitation and pollution embedded scenario across Himalayan region. It includes the garbage coming from a house to one dumped by municipality/ urban local body, and from our various religious practices to tourist influx adding the muck. We [...]

TheWorld: The Kingdom of Bhutan is known for breathtaking views of rivers and streams cascading down from snow-packed glaciers high in the Himalayas. Until recently, Bhutanese were content to enjoy the view, use a little water for crops, and a bit more for hydropower, for local use. But lately, Bhutan has been getting more ambitious [...]

DailyStar: Broader regional collaboration on adaptation and joint meteorological data management and knowledge sharing to plan on water and food security must be achieved for water management in the face of climate change. The recommendations came at the end of a two-day consultative meeting yesterday between water experts of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan. Ministry [...]

BhutanBusiness: A group of young Bhutanese and Americans will take a journey to find out what climate change really means from a farmer to a hydropower engineer Around 15 youth from Bhutan and the United States will set out on a biking expedition from Bumthang to Thimphu this month, learning on the way different aspects [...]

PIB: The twelfth Inter-governmental meeting under Malé Declaration on Prevention and Control of Likely Transboundary Movements of Air Pollution agreed on strengthening the regional policy framework to carry forward control and prevention measures of air pollution. It was felt by the members that the time is ripe to consider enhancing the regional cooperation under the [...]

Hindu: Managing Asia’s urban future was at the heart of discussions at the Fifth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum held in Bangkok recently. Asia’s urban future is one of opportunity. Urbanisation, well-managed, is a chance to put our development paradigm on the right track – on a track that will result in inclusive and sustainable development for [...]

NewYork Times: When, in the early morning, I sit in the little meadow in front of my hermitage on a quiet hilltop, two hours’ drive from Katmandu in Nepal, my eyes take in hundreds of miles of lofty Himalayan peaks glowing in the rising sun. The serenity of the scenery blends naturally and seamlessly with [...]

Hindustan Times: Controversy over the dam over Brahmaputra notwithstanding, India and China would soon start a joint study of Brahmaputra-Salween and the Kangchenjunga landscapes to find out the impact of climate change on the local habitation, as desired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The environment ministry has sought the external affairs ministry’s approval to spend [...]