Small wonder

Even as Bhutan reports rising wildlife numbers, the country is changing fast, and balancing conservation and development is increasingly difficult. For example, thousands of young Bhutanese have left the country for economic opportunities abroad. Human-wildlife conflict is a pressing issue. And the environmental changes wrought by a changing climate pose considerable risks to Bhutan’s fragile ecosystems and economy.

To address these tensions, in 2018 the Royal Government of Bhutan and WWF—among a host of partners—launched Bhutan for Life (BFL) to foster climate-smart, forward-looking conservation and economic development. The initiative seeks to ensure Bhutan’s protected areas are fully functional and permanently secured through effective and sustainable forest and wildlife management. It also aims to boost the resilience of local communities and ecosystems that benefit from the protected area system. BFL provides access to renewable energy and nature-based livelihoods for local communities and includes measures to curb wildlife trade, address human-wildlife conflict, and safeguard protected area landscapes.

Bhutan for Life is the first Project Finance for Permanence initiative in Asia, bringing together diversified funding sources to support the country’s conservation initiatives over a projected 14-year period, after which Bhutan will assume sole, long-term responsibility for funding its protected areas. In essence, BFL secures durable funding for conservation in Bhutan. Financing partners for the US $118 million initiative include the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility as implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation, and multiple foundations and private donors.

Since 2019, BFL’s reliable and consistent funding has enabled protected areas to make sustained improvements and develop habitat management plans—from grassland management to the creation and management of water holes—among other efforts. Bhutan for Life also vastly expanded patrolling using a software solution (the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool, or SMART) that allows real-time monitoring to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade. And when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, BFL funds shored up people-friendly conservation efforts when protected areas globally faced devastating funding cuts.

“Bhutan for Life represents a reliable funding solution for conservation efforts,” says Pema Wangda, executive director of the BFL Fund Secretariat in Thimphu. “It also emphasizes the central importance of fostering sustainable livelihoods. Communities,” he adds, “need ownership over managing their own natural resources.”

And that’s where it all comes together. “We engage local communities in habitat restoration to complement our other activities,” says Khandu Tshomo, now a seasoned ranger and the BFL liaison for Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary. “Together, habitat restoration, SMART patrolling, and community engagement have made it conducive for wildlife here to thrive.”

As efforts to bolster protected areas succeed and wildlife numbers grow, Bhutan for Life is keeping Gross National Happiness in mind and helping communities adapt, benefit, and thrive.

Royal Manas National Park, for example, has among the highest tiger densities in the world and is a hot spot for birds. Here, local ecotourism operators conduct rafting and birding tours; more recently, they’ve begun guiding fly fishers hoping to land a golden mahseer, a prized fish that swims the fast-moving Manas River. Fly fishing was legalized here after Bhutan for Life, WWF, and the Fisheries Conservation Foundation conducted groundbreaking research on the mahseer’s population, movement, and life history, as well as the threats it faces, including pollution and habitat loss. As a community-based conservation initiative, locals take ownership of efforts to protect a species that attracts high-end anglers in turn.

On another front, BFL and its many partners are helping to manage human-wildlife conflict, one of the biggest threats to conservation and food security efforts in Bhutan. Take, for example, Jongthang village, located at the edge of the country’s largest protected area, Wangchuck Centennial National Park. Jongthang is adjacent to a biological corridor where predation of cattle and other livestock has increased.

“When we were children, the tiger was like a mythical animal that elders would speak of when it passed along the ridges high above the village,” explains Pema Lhamu, the elected community leader of the area. “Today, those rare stories of tigers have become real stories of fear and loss.”

Yet despite the danger and economic losses, Pema Lhamu notes, there have been no reported retaliatory killings of big cats in the area “because of communal and spiritual values that discourage the taking of life.”

To address the loss of livestock to predators, the partners have distributed machinery and tools, and introduced community-based insurance programs. They have also enclosed grazing land with solar-powered electric fencing to create community pastures, while ensuring wildlife movement pathways aren’t blocked.

Additional funds have supported the installation of solar-powered fencing to prevent elephants from entering croplands in the low-lying Sarpang district, where farmers grow corn, vegetables, and fruit. There, Bhutan for Life supports Community Quick Response Teams (QRTs), who share information and coordinate efforts in driving elephant herds away from people’s homes and crops—offering community members safety and the chance to cultivate commercial crops for sale.

“This area we live in is actually elephant habitat,” says TP Homagai, the QRT chairperson for the area. Although his banana plantations in the flatlands were damaged by elephants looking for food, he still believes in the importance of sharing the land. “Any long-term measures for human safety must also consider a safe zone for the elephants, because if they are not disturbed,” he says, “they will not disturb us.”

Now in its seventh year, Bhutan for Life is deep into implementation of its ambitious goals. In addition to investing in ecotourism and managing human-wildlife conflict, work is underway to improve watersheds in the protected area network, to ensure that conservation management plans consider both nature and its benefits to people, and to improve access to nature-based livelihoods and income-generating opportunities for at least 80% of the households living in protected areas.

But the country’s commitment to conservation goes far beyond Bhutan for Life. In fact, Bhutan is already developing innovative financing mechanisms to fund ongoing efforts after the program phases out.

One example lies deep in Sarpang, in a stretch of land nestled between Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Royal Manas National Park, where a new embodiment of Bhutan’s vision is taking shape the more than 600,000-acre development called Gelephu Mindfulness City.

Announced in December 2023 by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the nascent city aspires to propel Bhutan on a new economic journey by attracting sustainable global businesses, increasing Bhutan’s participation in regional and international markets, and generating meaningful employment and education opportunities for the next generation of Bhutanese people—all while ensuring conservation and sustainability remain integral parts of how the country grows and prospers.

As plans for the city develop, forest officials are tracking the movement of elephant herds to ensure wildlife corridors between Phibsoo and Royal Manas remain undisturbed. The city’s master plan includes opening parts of Phibsoo to low-impact tourism, as well. To this end, Bhutan for Life has supported ecotourism development in the sanctuary, including wildlife-focused activities like birdwatching and jeep tours, and building amenities like restrooms and camping infrastructure.

By making intentional, holistic choices for its wildlife, natural systems, and people—and welcoming investors, businesses, professionals, and visitors who share in its vision—Bhutan looks to show how one small country can be a beacon of hope for the world.