Bhutan

Sitting snug between the Eastern Himalayas of Tibet and India is the world’s last Buddhist Kingdom: Bhutan. In Dzongkha, the country is called Druk Yul, meaning the Land of the Thunder Dragon. This name comes from the Bhutanese folk legend of the Druk, the Thunder Dragon, which appears on the national flag and was said to have caused the violent thunderstorms that often bear down upon the small mountain country.

However, because the Kingdom was closed to foreigners until 1974, with the exception of people from India and Bangladesh, many may not know much about Bhutan. Television was only allowed in 1999, and cell phones a few years later. Nowadays, travel to the isolated country is still highly regulated — foreigners pay a minimum daily tariff of US$250, which covers hotel accommodation, food, activities, guides, and transportation. Those who visit cannot journey independently but instead must have an allocated guide.

Among Bhutan’s many other quirks are how prosperity and wealth are measured; rather than a GDP, the population is measured with a Gross National Happiness (GNH). This GNH is dependent upon four pillars: Sustainable and Equitable Socio-Economic Development, Good Governance, Environmental Conservation, and Preservation and Promotion of Culture. Under the Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, established by the government, citizens are randomly surveyed every five years. They ask questions such as: “Do you meditate?”, “How frequently do you pray?”, “How many hours do you work a day?”, “How many hours do you sleep?” as well as a few more surprising ones, “How often do you quarrel with your family?”, and “Do you trust your neighbors?”. This survey usually takes about three hours to complete, after which the participants are reimbursed a day’s pay for their troubles.

Because of the importance that the people and government of Bhutan place on environmental conservation, they also have specific constitutional rules to protect the land. Under their National Environment Protection Act, enacted in 2007:

“Every activity shall be planned and implemented in a way which will cause the least possible change in the environment; present the least environmental risk… and forestall or limit environmental impact from the start.”

One such rule is that at any time, at minimum 60% of the country’s land must be maintained as forest — currently, that number is 72%. It has also banned export logging to preserve the forests. The first road in the country was only built in the 1960s, and people were slow to buy cars even afterward. Furthermore, in Thimpu, the nation’s capital, there are no traffic lights, a trait that it shares only with Pyongyang, North Korea. According to the World Economic Forum, the country creates 1.5 million tonnes of carbon annually, while it’s forested absorb 6 million tonnes in the same time period. Furthermore, the nation has set goals to grow 100% organic food by 2020 and to achieve zero-waste by 2030.

Bhutan’s laws and attitude towards preserving their environment is a vision towards the possible future of the world. As Trump’s pulling out of the Paris Agreement in 2017 ironically showed, now it is becoming more crucial than ever to double down on attempts to stop global warming and climate change. Fears that green initiatives have adverse effects on business and the economy have generally been unfounded; the World Economic Forum has shown that greener enterprises do not prevent a company’s growth — instead, the opposite is actually happening. Although other countries such as the United States and China may not be able to implement the exact precautions and regulations that Bhutan has put into place, the effort and energy that is being expended on the natural environment should be more widespread, not only in grassroots movements but among companies and also governments. This mentality can not only preserve the ecosystem for the generation, but many generations to come.