Quarterly News

Panda Quarterly is published quarterly by the Communications unit of WWF- Bhutan Programme Office, P.O.Box 210, Thimphu, Bhutan.
contact pnorbu@wwfbhutan.org.bt for more information.



Selected stories from the Summer 2001 issue:

* World Environment Day 2001
* Helping Hands: Keeping Thimphu Clean and Green
Cycling for a Greener Planet
Ray of Light: Pico-hydel project in Phobjikha


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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