Sunday, June 5, 2022

Giving Environment a Helping Hand

Environment - and its protection - is the one and only area in which Bhutan’s Supreme Court will allow Public Interest Litigation (PIL) – leaving us in no doubt as to how dead serious we are about our commitment towards the stewardship of our natural environment.

A discourse on the merits of a pristine environment is unnecessary – because most Bhutanese already understand the impacts of a degraded environment. It is for this reason that yesterday (04.06.2022) – on the Birth Anniversary of Her Majesty the Gyaltsuen (Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan), a select group of Members of the Bhutan Birdlife Society – (of which I am one) undertook a tree plantation initiative at the Animoi Dratsang (nunnery) above Tsalumaphey in Thimphu. Some three hundred trees – mostly flowering and fruiting ones - have been planted. I choose to plant a Dogwood sapling.

Members of the Bhutan Birdlife Society readying for the initiative

Teach them young - a small girl plants a Maple sapling

Bhutan Birdlife Society’s initiative hopes to address two emerging environmental issues in the area – that of dwindling wild bird population, and near total loss of tree life that has rendered the area barren and unattractive. It is hoped that in the coming years, the area will be restocked with flowering and fruiting trees that will re-attract birds that have abandoned the area, while at the same time greening a historical place that is Tsalumaphey.

Trees and birds are intrinsically inter-connected – trees support the proliferation of birdlife while birds help multiply and reproduce trees. In the cycle of life, they handhold each other.

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