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World
Environment Day 2001
Her
Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck lauching the tree planting
ceremony © Thinley Dorji/NEC |
"This
is a globally important day, when people can pause and reflect on
the concerns of the environment”, Her Majesty the Queen Ashi
Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck said to the ministers, representatives of
government and non government organizations and students present
at the World Environment Day 2001. The celebrations sponsored by
WWF was marked in Bhutan on June 20 instead of June 5, which unfortunately
fell on the week of mourning observed for untimely demise of the
Nepalese royal family.
As
patron of the Renewable Natural Resouces sector and environment,
Her Majesty the Queen Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck launched the tree
planting ceremony and the “Adopt a stream” campaign. The
campaign calls for students from the 11 schools in Thimphu city
to adopt a stream and commit them to cleaning it regularly. According
to one teacher, the children were out to create a awareness and
educate themselves and the public on the values of volunteerism,
cleanliness and social work.
Yangchenphug
High School students cleaning stream adopted by his school ©
P.Norbu/WWF Bhutan |
World
Environment Day 2001 was also a day of recognition for local environmentalists
and students. Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck awarded prizes
to schools that won the solid waste collection competition organized
by the City Corporations and WWF. A special prize was awarded to
Sonam Phuntsho as an acknowledgement for his personal contribution
to reforestation and clean up campaigns. Certificates of appreciation
were also awarded to past and present national steering committee
members of the UNDP Global Environmental Facility/Small Grants Program.
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Helping
Hands: Keeping Thimphu Clean and Green
Heaps
of rubbish piled in a make shift tent at Changlimthang as students
from all over Thimphu went about picking trash in some of the city’s
dirtiest areas. With garbage and pollution becoming an issue in
the once clean city of Thimphu, the City Corporation of Thimphu
with assistance from WWF organized a solid waste collection competition
among the schools in the valley. More than a thousand students from
the eleven schools in the city participated in the weeklong competition.
Changzamto Jr.High School students taking out
the trash © P. Norbu/WWF Bhutan |
“There
is a very strong linkage between awareness and change in attitudes
and I believe that WWF can encourage young people to change their
attitudes about solid waste by engaging them in a hands on experience
like this solid waste collection competition,” said Kinzang
Namgay, WWF Bhutan Country Representative. “A hands on education
is the best kind of education”.
A
total of 11,366 kilograms of plastic wastes and 15,015 kilograms
of biodegradable waste were collected when the competition ended
in July. Dechencholing Junior High School, Luntenphu Primary School
and Lungtenzampa School were awarded prizes for having collected
the most garbage. Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck presented
the prizes at the World Environment Day celebrations.
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Cycling
for a cleaner greener earth
From
the sub tropical foothills of Phuntsholing to the temperate forests
of Thimphu, Karma Gyelsthen cycled a gruelling 300 kilometres on
a mostly uphill national highway to convey his nature conservation
messages. Karma’s ten day cycling expedition sponsored by WWF
took him to 15 schools in five districts where he spoke to students
about nature conservation and distributed pamphlets and posters
from WWF and other organizations.
Karma
Gyelsthen beginning his green planet cycling expedition ©
RSPN |
Karma
camped along the highway and in schoorooms but his less than comfortable
accomodations were made more bearable by the enthusiam with which
he was received in the schools. “I was warmly welcomed in welcomed
in the different schools and the students were very receptive to
what I had to say but I was struck by people’s limited understanding
of environmental issues”, Karma Gyeltshen said. “I hope
through this trip of mine, I have managed to raise some amount of
awareness among the youth on environmental, health and sports issues.”
“Karma
Gyeltshen is perhaps the first ever Bhutanese youth to cycle from
Phuntsholing to Thimphu. I believe that by meaningfully engaging
young people in positive initiatives they will grow up to be responsible
citizens”, said Kinzang Namgay, WWF Bhutan Country Representative.
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Ray
of Light: Electricity in Phobjikha Valley
The
crane observation center in Phobjikha valley was inaugurated on
June 7 by Ms. Misako Konno, UNDP Global Goodwill Ambassador. WWF,
GEF and the International Crane Foundation (ICF) among others funded
the construction of the crane observation center. The center will
serve as a base of operation for the Royal Society for Protection
of Nature’s (RSPN) eco-tourism program as well as an information
center on the endangered Black Necked Cranes and their guardians
– the residents of Phobjikha valley.
Exhibition
hall at the RSPN crane observation center © RSPN |
A
pico-hydel project funded solely by WWF will also provide electricity
to three major areas in the Phobjikha valley – Gangtey monastery,
Gogona monastery and the crane observation center. Transmission
lines from the pico-hydel plant have been laid underground to avoid
disrupting the migration routes of the cranes.
“The
installation of this system has reduced the monks’ dependency
on kerosene and has improved their living conditions,” said
Jigme Tobgay, conservation & development coordinator of RSPN.
"It has also a provided us with an opportunity for testing
such small scale eco-friendly power plants.”
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