In the isolated Kingdom of Bhutan Buddhism and environmentalism are joining forces to preserve one of the last pristine tracts of the Himalayas. Nathan Ward reports

Dawn breaks on a mountain valley so thick with frost it looks as though it has been the recipient of a heavy snowfall. Villagers rush through their morning chores before changing into their best festival clothes and stepping out along the muddy road towards a glittering monastery on a distant hill. As the sun rises, the early morning warms up and the night fog thins, they climb through a forest of pines and enter the medieval building.

Inside the Gangtey Goenpa monastery, cymbals clash in the hands of betel-mouthed monks. A heavy drum beats and a dragon-faced dancer spins and leaps his way into the courtyard. Young and old faces alike are transfixed as the dancers enter one by one. Sharp-muscled calves flex. Bare fleet slap stone. Feathers catch the sun’s light as they spin out a traditional Tibetan dance that was carried over the Himalayas hundreds of years ago.

As the first dance ends, haunting musical bird cries cut the momentary silence and everyone looks skyward as a small group of black-necked cranes circle upwards on thermals. Just then, human-size cranes flap into the courtyard and start to mimic the mating dance of the crane. These birds are mask dancers in the black-necked crane festival, which takes place every November in the Phobjika Valley of central Bhutan.

The festival mixes traditional dancing with modern education about the need to protect the environment. In this case, it is about protecting the endangered black-necked crane, a species that migrates from the high Tibetan plateau in China each winter. The festival represents just one of the ways that the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN) is teaching villagers about the importance of species and habitat conservation in the last Himalayan Kingdom. RSPN is the only non-governmental organisation devoted strictly to conserving Bhutan’s biodiversity and mountain environment, although it works closely with the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) agencies that have promoted some of the most innovative environmental policies in the world. The concept of protecting nature is not new in Bhutan, but it is about to become even more important as the country faces sweeping changes in 2008.

In 2008, the King, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, plans to step down and hand power over to the Crown Prince. The monarchy will have more of a ceremonial role once the king puts the first constitution into affect, holds the first public elections and gives up absolute power for the first time in 100 years. After 2008, the common people will determine the fate of the nation and the future of the environment. The strict rules that have protected Bhutan’s intact ecosystems and amazing biodiversity may come under scrutiny for the first time ever.

Until recently, it seemed odd to discuss environmentalism in Bhutan, a country with vast natural areas that remain pristine and intact, especially when compared to the neighbouring Himalayan regions of Nepal and India. Bhutan’s list of environmental achievements reads like a conservationist’s dream – old-growth forests still cover 70 per cent of the land; international experts recognise Bhutan as one of the top 10 biodiversity hotspots on the planet; and national parks cover 26.23 per cent of the country, including an additional 9 per cent of the country designated in 1999 as biological corridors between the parks as a ‘gift to the earth from the country of Bhutan’. This impressive list continues all the way down to laws that ban the export of timber and prohibit the use of plastic bags in the country.

This ideal situation stems from a number of factors – Bhutan remained largely isolated until the 1960s, when the first road connected the country with India. The population remains low, just 670,000 in 2006, so there has always been plenty of land for everyone. Since the country lies entirely on the southern slope of the Great Himalayan Range, mountains fill Bhutan from border to border and this incredibly steep terrain is difficult to develop. However, on a more internal plane, many people think that the Bhutanese people’s Buddhist instincts and traditional agrarian lifestyle has also cultivated a disposition conducive to protecting the earth.

‘Bhutan has a strong land ethic as a result of people’s rural lifestyle. The lives of people here, for the majority, are still directly tied to the land. It’s still what sustains them, rather than just going to the supermarket and buying food,’ says Dr Lam Dorji, executive director of RSPN. Of course, it does not hurt that Bhutan has been ruled for the past 100 years by the Wangchuck monarchy, kings who possess an appreciation for the value of natural areas. These benevolent rulers shaped a government and mindset where potential conflicts between development and the environment are genuinely debated at the highest government levels.

‘Challenging development from the viewpoint of protecting natural heritage is part of the political make-up of Bhutan,’ says Dr David Annandale, Danida senior technical advisor to Bhutan’s National Environmental Commission.

This willingness to consider nature as a valuable commodity that contributes directly to people’s quality of life stems from the monarchy’s decision to pursue the Buddhist concept of the Middle Path. In this instance, the Middle Path means developing Bhutan in a sustainable manner that raises living standards without compromising the cultural wholeness or quality of life for future Bhutanese. This, along with the king’s radical declaration that Bhutan’s ‘gross national happiness’ (GNH) is more important that gross domestic product (GDP), sets the stage for continued extensive environmental protection for this remote and remarkable mountain nation.

However, if one looks a few years down the road, the real challenge to Bhutan’s environment could come from within. No one knows really what to think of the new developments scheduled for 2008 – will they lead to drastic changes or will the traditional way of life continue as it has for decades? This uncertainty makes the work of RSPN and RGoB much more important. It is vital that they instill a real appreciation for the natural environment now, before any major changes become a reality.

In addition to transition in the government, Bhutan faces other internal challenges, the biggest being rapid modernisation which has brought with it a building boom, increased car ownership and a proliferation of plastic-wrapped consumer goods. The resulting air pollution, reduction of land available for agriculture and refuse in urban areas is sure to be exacerbated by Bhutan’s high rate of population growth and increased urbanisation. These things, maybe more than others, are leading to the development of a concept of environmentalism, similar to that in the western world.

‘There is a realisation among our people that life was better before and we must do something to preserve it. People are seeing things in front of their eyes that they cannot tolerate and these recent environmental converts want to tell others about it,’ says Dorji.

Bhutan’s government possesses the power and vision to foster this new sense of environmentalism and it is doing so through a number of initiatives, including a new sustainable development policy that will be released in 2007 to guide future development throughout Bhutan. On the ground, the RGoB funds an aggressive environmental campaign in schools, on television and on the radio, a network that connects nearly everyone in the country, even the most distant areas of the kingdom.

developing Bhutan in a sustainable manner that raises living standards without compromising the cultural wholeness or quality of life for future Bhutanese. This, along with the king’s radical declaration that Bhutan’s ‘gross national happiness’ (GNH) is more important that gross domestic product (GDP), sets the stage for continued extensive environmental protection for this remote and remarkable mountain nation.

However, if one looks a few years down the road, the real challenge to Bhutan’s environment could come from within. No one knows really what to think of the new developments scheduled for 2008 – will they lead to drastic changes or will the traditional way of life continue as it has for decades? This uncertainty makes the work of RSPN and RGoB much more important. It is vital that they instill a real appreciation for the natural environment now, before any major changes become a reality.

In addition to transition in the government, Bhutan faces other internal challenges, the biggest being rapid modernisation which has brought with it a building boom, increased car ownership and a proliferation of plastic-wrapped consumer goods. The resulting air pollution, reduction of land available for agriculture and refuse in urban areas is sure to be exacerbated by Bhutan’s high rate of population growth and increased urbanisation. These things, maybe more than others, are leading to the development of a concept of environmentalism, similar to that in the western world.

‘There is a realisation among our people that life was better before and we must do something to preserve it. People are seeing things in front of their eyes that they cannot tolerate and these recent environmental converts want to tell others about it,’ says Dorji.

Bhutan’s government possesses the power and vision to foster this new sense of environmentalism and it is doing so through a number of initiatives, including a new sustainable development policy that will be released in 2007 to guide future development throughout Bhutan. On the ground, the RGoB funds an aggressive environmental campaign in schools, on television and on the radio, a network that connects nearly everyone in the country, even the most distant areas of the kingdom.

At the same time, RSPN is focusing its work at the grassroots level, using the Phobjika Valley as a test case for what can be achieved in communities where villagers give equal weight to both development and the environment. To start with, RSPN addressed daily challenges faced by any developing country – access to electricity, education and healthier living conditions. It worked to provide solar lights to improve respiratory health, better water sources for ease of labour and hygiene, bridges to make river crossings safer and more efficient wood stoves to lessen the burden on surrounding forests.

In addition, RSPN has tapped into what may be the most effective method of spreading environmentalism throughout Bhutan – a close-knit family structure and Buddhism. The family structure in Bhutan is a complex weaving of dependence and obligation that creates honoured multi-generational bonds. This structure gives new environmental concepts a way to travel through communities quickly. The oral family grapevine spreads knowledge from village to village, transferring ideas that protect the land.

Tradition also comes into play with Buddhism and its predecessor, animism. Both religious philosophies hold the belief that spirits live in the natural world, inhabiting the trees, rocks and rivers. Although the connection between Buddhism and the environment has often been suggested in Bhutan, RSPN is publishing a new book to highlight the elemental relationship between Buddhism and the natural world.

The text reads: ‘Buddhists see all things natural as deeply enriching to the soul and spiritual. Preserve them and there is no better offering one can make to the Buddhas and

Boddhisattavas for your own spiritual empowerment.’ In this way, protecting the environment not only enriches daily life, it helps one gain sacred merit for all lives to come.

If you travel the curvy roads of Bhutan today, it looks as though the country has nothing to worry about environmentally. Immense forests blanket the mountainsides as far as the eye can see, and it is possible to glimpse endangered species on a daily basis. However, like the rest of the world, Bhutan will eventually come to a crossroads where the people must choose between continuing to protect their beautiful lands or giving in to the pressures of global modernisation. It is a privileged choice for a modern society to make and the world will benefit if Bhutan chooses to protect the last pristine piece of the Himalayas for as long as possible.

Dorji adds: ‘Bhutanese people like to do things in our own way, different from all other places.’

This mindset may make Bhutan able to preserve its natural surroundings, using its people’s unique mix of traditional land ethics, Buddhism, innovative government policy, environmentalism and the fine example of a nature-loving line of kings to help keep the lands of the wild Himalayan kingdom intact.