ACHIEVEMENTS
s the earth's natural heritage shrinks, the value of saving rare and pristine environments like Bhutan's rises," says Mingma Norbu Sherpa, Country Representative for WWF's Bhutan and Nepal Programmes. "Both WWF and the Royal Government of Bhutan are committed to ensuring that the country fulfil its promise as the best hope for conservation in the Himalayas, if not the world."
Conservation is a long-term process with benefits seen only after many years. So for government departments to undertake long-term environmental planning, they have to be sure that there is enough money to support projects year after year. In 1991, WWF together with the RGOB and the UNDP, set up the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation (BTFEC) to guarantee a long-term source of funding for conservation efforts in the country.
It is an ambitious trust fund designed to avoid many of the pitfalls of international development funding schemes. All funds raised for the Trust are invested in safe securities and managed by financial experts in a third country, to yield yearly interest which then finances Bhutan's conservation efforts. A Board of Trustees, comprising four representatives from the RGOB, and one each from WWF and UNDP, supervises the Trust Fund.
For its part, the RGOB agrees to maintain the country's forest cover at the current level, with the understanding that future income from the Trust Fund may be affected if the forests are not protected.
WWF, which provided the first US$1 million to the Trust, is assisting the government in securing funds from international aid organizations. It hopes to raise US$20 million in order to yield a yearly interest of at least US$1 million. To date, the Trust, which became operational in October 1992, has an endowment of US$13 million, of which US$7 million is from the World Bank's Global Environment Facility. In 1995, the World Bank commended the BTFEC for meeting its conservation benchmarks two and a half years ahead of schedule. These benchmarks -- set by the Bank as a condition for release of funds to the Trust -- include establishment of several priority protected areas (Royal Manas, Jigme Dorji and Black Mountains national parks, and Khulongchhu Wildlife Sanctuary), developing park infrastructure and field staff.
It took WWF and park authorities more than two years to restore the Royal Manas National Park to its former natural beauty. Located in southern Bhutan adjacent to India's Manas Tiger Reserve, the 1,023km2 park, established in 1988, suffered from encroachment by the 20,000 or so people living around it. Villagers would clear the forests to grow crops, cut down trees for fuelwood, use the park as grazing land, and kill the wildlife for attacking their livestock.
In 1986, at the RGOB's request, WWF began training park staff, marking park boundaries, and restoring degraded land. It also helped set up buffer zone activities. By 1988, Manas had recovered sufficiently to meet the protected area criteria set by The World Conservation Union -IUCN. Today, it is regarded as the jewel of Bhutan's park system providing habitat for the endemic golden langur, the country's last population of wild water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), as well as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, Asian elephant, tiger, and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). Exotic orchids and the rare agar tree, whose wood is valued as an incense and medicine in the Middle East, are also thriving in the park. Together with India's Manas Tiger Reserve, it is considered one of the most important conservation areas on the Indian subcontinent.
In 1994, WWF and Bhutan's Forestry Services Division jointly developed a five-year operational management plan for the park. This is the country's first management plan for a protected area, and will serve as a model for Bhutan's other protected areas. The plan includes guidelines on boundary demarcation, zoning, infrastructure development, staff training, ecological restoration work, and bufferzone/community development.
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