Local Effort, Global Award, Prize for Future?

It is always a moment of pride for me being a Bhutanese citizen when my country and my leaders are conferred with awards and accolades. While Bhutan is known worldwide mostly because of the developmental approach embracing sustainability in name of Gross National Happiness which have four pillars, Good governance, Sustainable socio-economic development, Preservation and promotion of culture, and Environmental Conservation, it is the progress in the fourth pillar that is often recognized and praised by the outside world. No doubt, Bhutan maintained centuries of self-imposed isolation with modern development commencing only in the 1960s when the first five-year plan was launched, so the Bhutanese younger generations have always inherited pristine and rich forest cover which are not infiltered for modern developmental greeds. Our successive kings have been so wise that when the country finally embraced modern development, a middle path approach was followed and natural resources are never compromised for the future generations. 

Source: Ashna Jawal

Pioneered by the Great Fourth, His majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, environmental conservation is taken very seriously in Bhutan with an entire article in the Constitution of Kingdom of Bhutan dedicated to environmental conservation, mandating 60% of the country to be kept under forests cover for all the time to come. Needless to say the awards won by His Majesty the Fourth King for he was a Champion of Environmental Conservation in Bhutan but in 2016, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lyonchen Dasho Tshering Tobgay was amongst one of the honorary laureates of the prestigious German Sustainability Award for promoting sustainability in Bhutan, indicating that Bhutanese political leaders are following the steps taken by our Monarchs in maintaining environmental sustainability. 

Fast forward, it is 2018 and yet again Bhutan perched on the top to receive the Earth Award at a ceremony in ITB (International Tourism Bourse) in Berlin, Germany. The award was received by the Tourism Council of Bhutan as the award was initiated to recognize and appreciate sustainable tourist destinations. While Bhutan being a green destination is because of the government's commitment towards environmental conservation, yet again, it is the far-sighted visions of our great Monarchs who introduced High-value Low-volume tourism policy to provide quality services to the guests and reduce negative impacts of tourism influx, that has enabled a sustainable and well-regulated flow of tourists visiting Bhutan. Bhutanese are lucky to have visionary monarchs, who not only ease the lives of our people today but also ensures a safe and secure place for the future generations. 

Our local efforts might be small at the global scale, but its impact on our living population is large. We should be humbled with the accolades and awards given by the world for the little efforts that we put but should be proud that it is reaching strong message to wider global scale. The awards also remind ourselves to be mindful of what we are actually planning and doing because, during each award session, our leaders give a lot of emphasis on what we are doing in the forefront of conservation and sustainability. For a small nation with even smaller population, a well-planned development can have a lasting impact than taking blind shorter steps to obtain easy recognition and early benefit for obtaining political mileage. In the next half-century, it will be even more proud for our children to have few naturally flowing rivers without being dammed, protected areas well secured without roads crisscrossing multiple times, rural settings undisturbed but well furnished with basic amenities, towns well-built with a perfect blend of traditional and innovative designs, our roads meandering through the green woods without scars of degradation, and most importantly the generation than be benefited immensely from the tourists who visit Bhutan with genuine sense of belief that Happiness is a Place. It will be a beautiful prize for our future leaders and citizens that we are yet to come.

Experiencing the Real Cold of Germany

This is my second winter in Germany and from the experience from last year, I was expecting the snow to fall by mid-February. However, we were experiencing an icy cold breeze, much colder than last year, but there was no sign of snowfall; the rivers and ponds were not frozen despite the cold. Rather it was drizzling when January came to an end, it was like spring has come. But I was wrong. The real European winter was not something which I experienced last year, but this year. The temperature plummeted below -5 degree Celsius most of the time and when I woke up in the morning on 27th February, to my pleasant surprise, there was a thick blanket of snow, and still falling. Little did I knew that it would continue for 3 consecutive days, to make the winter in Greifswald the coldest in recent years. One day I checked the temperature and it was negative 12 Degree Celcius during the day, something which I didn't experience even at the snow-clad mountain at the elevation of 4900 masl. 

The white carpet. 

Today is 5th March and despite not having snowfall for last 4 days, the footpaths are still remaining white. The spray of salty sands are hardly able to melt them but each passing night, it gets more frozen. The real cold of Germany is here. Even during the day, it gives such a chill through our spine while walking on the streets. If not of the insulated homes furnished with the continuous supply of heat, uninterrupted flow of water and undisturbed electricity, it will be real hellish cold here. 

It is also reported that Rome had snowfall after six years, and in Brussels, the homeless were detained if they are not sheltered well to protect from sub-zero temperature. In England, motorists were trapped, flights and trains cancelled as snow ramped up and over 50 deaths were linked to the cold conditions sweeping along the continent. The weather nicknamed "beast from the east" has indeed hit the whole of Europe, bringing snow and strong winds with further chill factor. Probably this winter will remain one of the coldest winters that I will experience in my life. 

Greifswald city covered in snow

On, the contrary, it is reported that the North Pole is warmer than Europe at this stage and climate scientists attribute such situations to anthropogenic climate change. It was reported that For the month of February, most of the inner Arctic was more than 5°C warmer than the 2004-2013 average, which means there will be more melting of arctic ices than usual, thus disrupting the ecosystem in the north pole. It is also an indication that global warming has now eroded the poles and there is limited time to act to reverse it. In the case of Bhutan, rapid receding of snowline was often mentioned by the regular yak herders, and for this year, my parents at home are complaining that it didn't snow. The symptoms of climate change are now severe and once which people considered anomalies to not have regular snow are now getting normal. 

Ice skating on the frozen pond. 

The pond near my hostel is also frozen and this indeed provided me with the chance to experience ice skating, something which I didn't experience last year. It was fun trying to balance on the skating shoe but it was painful to have numerous fall on the hardened ice. A good balancing power and concentrated composure is the key to successful skating, and I am glad I could get into that composure after few trials and errors. However, such an experience might be also my last experience since ice skating is not common in Bhutan, despite having Himalayas full of ice. On the other hand, with such erratic changes in weather pattern caused by global warming effects, irreversible climate change impacts won't let the younger generation in Europe have ice skating experiences on natural ice as we are doing today. With the human racing towards the global edge with greed, it calls for balance and composure to save our earth from anthropogenic climate change. The time is now to take urgent action against climate change and its impacts and meet Sustainable Development Goal 13.