Bhutan

Sustainable Land Management Project

Background
Intensive land use, poor soil and irrigation water management, shifting cultivation, overgrazing, firewood gathering, and development of infrastructure such as roads are causing serious damage and accelerating land degradation in Bhutan. Sustainable land management (SLM) provides a comprehensive solution to the problem and could restore the integrity and productivity of the ecosystem. The objective of the project is to build capacity in SLM in appropriate government and civil society institutions and user groups and mainstream SLM into government planning and strategy development. The project has three outcomes, namely, (a) Completion of a National Action Program (NAP) on land degradation (b) Strengthening human resources and institutional capacities on SLM and (c) Mainstreaming and harmonizing SLM into national policies, plans and economic development and environmental frameworks.

Objectives
The project will contribute towards the achievement of the following long-term goal: The agricultural, forest and other terrestrial land uses of Bhutan are sustainable, productive systems that maintain ecosystem productivity and ecological functions while contributing directly to the environmental, economic and social well-being of the country.

The project will build capacity for sustainable land management in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The objective of the project is to strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable land management while ensuring broad-based political and participatory support for the process.

The principal national benefits are removal of barriers for sustainable land management planning, enhancement of institutional SLM capacity and introduction of best land use practices. At the local level, these outcomes are expected to increase food production through reduction of surface erosion and improved access to fodder and fuel wood. Soil stability and nutrient management, the reduction in sediment loads of rivers, and increased vegetation cover would also provide the following global benefits:

• Maintenance of the structure and functions of ecological systems.
• Enhanced biodiversity.
• Enhanced carbon sequestration.

The MSP will examine the potential of applying a “Forest Landscape Restoration” (FLR) approach as an important component of SLM. FLR seeks to bring people together to identify and put in place a mix of land use practices that will help restore the functions of forests across a whole landscape, such as a water catchment. There are sufficient examples in the world, where a well managed landscape mosaic of forests, pastures and grassland will result in more regulated and higher water being caught by a dam, than a forested watershed, and therefore more hydroelectrical potential.  It should be the function of this GEF project to be able to raise awareness on this key and innovative conclusion from the scientific community. The SLM approach of “integrated land use planning” could be interpreted as “increasing diversity (mosaic) of land uses within a landscape”.

This project is part of, and will liaise closely and share lessons with, the UNDP/GEF LDC and SIDS Targeted Portfolio Approach for Capacity Development and Mainstreaming of Sustainable Land Management. The project addresses all three outcomes under  OP-15 of the umbrella project:

• Cost-effective and timely delivery of GEF resources to target countries
• Individual and institutional capacities for SLM will be enhanced – a large part of this project is directed towards these types of capacity building.
• Systemic capacity building and mainstreaming of SLM principles – this project also addresses policy development and mainstreaming of SLM.

Achievements & expected results

The project will have 3 outcomes and 11 outputs as follows:

Outcome 1: National Action Programme (NAP) is completed.
Output 1.1:  Draft NAP document on land degradation.  
Output 1.2:  NAP finalized and adopted by RoGB.
Output 1.3:  Nation-wide dissemination of the contents of NAP, among all levels of Bhutan’s society.