Environmental policy and administrative management

Pangkhar village under Pangkhar Chewog, Khoma Geog, Lhuntse Dzongkhag falls under the dry sub-topical zone and has cool broad leaf vegetation. There are 29 households in the village and farmers practice subsistence integrated farming. Major cereals grown are paddy, maize and millet. Paddy is the main staple and majority of the landholdings are wet land. The major bottleneck of the village is shortage of irrigation water and not able cultivate a major portion of wet land. This has resorted farmers to off-farm work for sustaining their livelihoods and also prompting rural-urban migration. Pangkhar Water Users Associations was formed to promote sustainable use of local water and environment resources. Through the project the Association aspires to promote community based sustainable land management and optimum use water resources . Through renovation of the old irrigation facilities, farmers will be able to re-cultivate over 30 acres of wet land substantially contributing to house hold food sufficiency and security besides boosting the overall rice production in the village. Further, establishment of community forestry will provide the community ownership and encourage conservation and sustainable use of resources. Therefore, the Association will be implementing the following project activities to fulfil the above goal: 1.Community water management (rehabilitation of irrigation channel)and use of fallow agriculture land over 30 acres for sustainable livelihood 2.Protection of six community water sources 3.Development of community forestry 4.Plantation of 3000 trees 5.Development of community bylaws

Bhutan