Landlocked beauty

The picturesque Paro Valley in Bhutan. The country has 40 per cent tree cover.-

Bhutans conservation mission is evident in its vast forest cover, rare fauna and, of course, Gross National Happiness.

Bhutans audacious solution is to build its society from the ground up using what it calls the Four Pillars of GNH: sustainable economic development, conservation of the environment, preservation of culture and good governance.

Time magazine, October 22, 2012.

When I read the article in Time, my thoughts drifted to a television visual a year ago of the young King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, stepping out of the centuries-old dynastic Punakha Palace moments after his wedding to Jetsun Pema, and of an estimated 5,000 Bhutanese bursting into a thunderous applause. That palpable, spontaneous joy was truly symbolic of the spirit of GNH, or Gross National Happiness. After all, it is the only country in the world which declared, in 1980, that the measure of Bhutans prosperity would be based neither on its gross domestic product (GDP) nor on its gross national product (GNP) but, instead, on the collective GNH of its people. It gave that concept the permanence of a statute when the Bhutan Assembly voted in May 2003 to retain 60 per cent of the countrys landmass under natural forest cover, as the agent of socio-economic well-being. By doing so, the country departed from the universally followed industrial-military models.

In keeping with our times, the Time story is woven around the prevailing politico-economic ethos of development and so misses the essence of the subtle, intrinsic philosophy underlying the Bhutanese GNH paradigm. There is an unstated, esoteric element in that paradigm, which is evident in the design of the monarchs crown. A roosting raven sits atop the crown in place of the conventional gold plate encrusted with diamonds as the symbol of kingship. The ubiquitous raven represents an element from pristine nature linked to the animist beliefs of the Bhutanese.

Maybe that is why Bhutan is the only country in the world today that has close to zero pollution levels of both noise and smoke, and its rivers are free from chemical and biological contamination and its agriculture uses only organic manure. The country has 40 per cent tree cover. Cynics would dismiss these achievements as the result of a fortunate conjunction of monarchism and low population density. The truth, however, is that Bhutan has had a dynasty of visionary kings. Take for instance Sherubtse College, not far from the capital Thimphu, which offers students opting for the environmental sciences course a wholesome exposure to ecology, population dynamics, natural resource management and environmental impact assessments besides water, soil and vegetation mapping as essential components of sustainable lifestyles. This is a unique educational initiative.

The philosophy of sustainable development the world over and in Bhutan in particular got a shot in the arm when in 1973, Jean Paul Getty, a billionaire American industrialist-cum-oil tycoon, set up an International Nature Conservation Award to be conferred on an individual or a non-governmental organisation annually by an expert jury for the most significant contribution in this discipline. A Peruvian became the first recipient of the $1 million award in 1974. The following year, it was conferred on Salim Ali for the study and conservation of the Indian avifauna. Incidentally, Salim Ali had received budgetary and logistical support for a survey on Birds of the North East from the first King of Bhutans Wangchuk dynasty.

Two decades later, the international jury of the Jean Paul Getty Award unanimously declared that the environmental sciences course at Sherubtse College was the most focussed and comprehensive and that it would meaningfully accelerate the spread of nature conservation consciousness in the entire South and South-East Asian region. And Bhutans only college became the recipient of the JPG Award for 1994. With the passage of time, the Getty family increased the cash component to $2 million and enlarged its scope to include individuals who provided political leadership in this field. This was also the period when the Bhutanese Assembly debated and unanimously settled for a 60 per cent countrywide forest cover.

The first JPG Award in the new category, Conservation Leadership, was conferred in 2006 on His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuk, the fourth King of Bhutan, who abdicated the throne in December 2006 in favour of his eldest heir, Khesar Wangchuk. The citation of that JPG Award declared: His Majestys leadership resulted in the establishment of government policies and laws that have had substantial positive impact on conservation and help ensure environmental sustainability in Bhutan. The Kingdom of Bhutan today possesses some of the most pristine ecosystems in the world because of the Kings exceptional leadership to enthuse the people of Bhutan to environmental protection.

Birds of Bhutan

Ornithologists might emphatically pronounce that the Royal Raven on the crown is actually the Himalayan Nutcracker. Be that as it may, there is no mistaking the migrant black-necked crane, among the most threatened in the world, which find assured and safe refuge in winter in the lower valleys of Bhutan. Its slender neck, bushy tail and stout legs are black and contrast sharply with its grey-white body plumage. But what is most attractive about the bird is the bright red in the crown of the head, eyes and base of the beak. It has a loud and unique trumpet call. Imagine the reverberating echo of 352 black-necked cranes calling in unison as they wintered in Wangdu district of east Bhutan in 2005. Those who persevere will sight the blood pheasant in the Paro valley (in northwest Bhutan), arguably the most beautiful of birds, strutting in the morning sun.

Bhutan also remains the safest haven for the highly endangered snow leopard, though it is not frequently sighted. In 2009, the BBC put an end to the speculation about the status of the tiger in this Himalayan realm when they successfully camera-trapped a tigress rearing her two cubs in the highlands of central Bhutan.

Baljit Singh is a retired Lieutenant General of the Indian Army.