THE HAPPY HIMALAYAN NATION
Bhutan-The Happy Himalayan nation
-Aditya Reddy
Have
you ever wondered that a country’s growth would depend upon the happiness? Have
you ever thought that the people can happily live without any e-gadgets in
today’s contemporary world? If you’re wondering where such a place would exist,
this country is right above us and it is the smallest neighbouring country.
The Land of Thunder Dragon – Kingdom of
Bhutan – is a small monarch country which is located on the foothills of
Himalayas and is sandwiched between two super nations- India and China.
Even though the entire country’s GDP is less than
2billion$, in 1970s, the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye
Wangchuck believed an economic approach dehumanised the development process. He
instead decided to focus on a concept that is called as "Gross National
Happiness" or GNH. The development of a country would be measured by its
remaining citizens' happiness.
“Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.”, His Majesty the 4th King of Bhutan.
Being one of the smallest economies in
the world, education is completely free for all the citizens and those who work
hard are given free college education. Health care is completely free and all
medical programs are provided by the state.
The people in Bhutan are the most down
to earth people. Bhutanese don’t care about the TV, radio, or Internet-simple
living. The gap between the normal people and royalty is not that far. Though
being a monarch nation, the King of Bhutan imposed democracy even though the
people never demanded for it or fought for it. This allows all the Kings of
Bhutan to retire by the age of 65. The present King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar
Namgyel Wangchuck is so modest that he himself sits to chop the onions and
stuff while serving food to the underprivileged. Adding a photo regarding the
same!
Fun Fact: There are no beggars or homeless people in this
country.
The people of Bhutan celebrated the
birth of the King and Queen's first son by planting 108,000 trees across the
nation. That’s how Eco-friendly Bhutan is. The constitution of Bhutan states that:
The Government shall ensure that, in order to conserve the country’s natural resources and to prevent degradation of them ecosystem, a minimum of sixty percent of Bhutan’s total land shall be maintained under forest cover for all time.
This
means that more than half of the country is under forest cover. The entire
country of Bhutan generated 2.2 million tons of carbon-dioxide and the forest
can assimilate up to three-times that amount of generated carbon-dioxide. So,
this country is a net carbon sink for 4 million tons of carbon dioxide each
year.
Bhutan isn’t just carbon neutral, but to be more accurate, it is a carbon negative country.
Bhutan
exports most of the renewable electricity which they harness it from the fast
flowing rivers. So today, the clean
energy which they export offsets 6 million tons of carbon-dioxide in their
neighbourhood. By 2020, Bhutan will export enough electricity to offset 17
million tons of carbon dioxide and if they were harnessing just half of their
hydro-power potential, it would offset 50 million tons of CO2 a year.
That is more CO2 what the entire city of New York generates in one
year.
So, within their country, they’re a net carbon sink and outside, they are offsetting carbon.
Due to global warming, this poor country has faced
a lot of flash flood with a lot of causalities in the past few years. The
people of Bhutan have done nothing to contribute to Global Warming but still
they are facing the consequences of nature’s wrath.
These
are few of the steps taken by Bhutan to remain carbon-neutral:
- · Providing free electricity to farmers which would instead stops the usage of firewood and decrease the greenhouse gasses.
- · Subsidising the purchase of electric vehicles and LED lights.
- · Entire government is trying to go paperless.
- · Plastic bags are banned for ecological reasons.
- · Bhutan is world's first wholly organic nation
- · Not killing animals to protect their fauna.
- · Tobacco is illegal. The consumption of tobacco is not altogether prohibited, though it is largely banned in places of public accommodation.
The most important part in their country is the
“Protected Area”. These are the forests reserved for National Parks,
Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves which is the core for carbon sink. They
cover almost 50% of the total country’s land mass and these protected areas are
connected with each by biological corridors which allows all the animals to
roam all over the country.
It
means that if an animal was found in the sub-tropical forest, then the same
animal can also be found in the alpine regions.
Living Eco-friendly is a bit expensive
and for a country like Bhutan, it’d end up all of their resources. Due to this
reason, a program called - Bhutan for Life - was started by the King of Bhutan
which is an innovative funding initiative that aims to provide a sustained flow
of finance to maintain the country’s protected areas and biological corridors
for perpetuity (14 years, until Bhutanese government takes over the costs
entirely without foreign assistance). The World Wildlife Fund is their
principal partner in their journey.
This the reason why the people of Bhutan are the
most happiest even though they are struggling to make their country more better
and also sharing their happiness with others.
If a small country like Bhutan has committed to live carbon neutral forever, then why not all other countries also follow such policy which would make the world a better place to live.
NOTE: If you want to know more about Bhutan For Life,
here’s the link:http://www.bfl.org.bt/
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