Environmental research

The main objective of the project was to develop the institute as a model of environmental friendly, self sufficient and sustainable religious institute. The Buddhist Institute was established in year 2001 to provide religious education to monks from Eastern Dzongkhags. It has an influential position as an extremely religious society. Kidhekhar Buddhist Institute was established in the year 2001 to serve as the religious educational centre for monks of Eastern Bhutan consisting of Pema Gatshel, Samdrup Jongkhar, Mongar, Lhuentse Trashigang and Trashi Yangtse. The institute is located 4 kilometres from the main Mongar town and above the Mongar-Trashigang highway. There are 80 resident monks at the institute. It also houses several lay monks. There are 9 households that are used as classrooms, kitchen, dining room and teacher`s quarters and dormitories. Like any communities of rural Bhutan, fuel wood is used for cooking and heating purposes as they do not have any other alternatives. The cooking stove used by them is highly inefficient as it is a open type mud stove, which wastes energy and pollutes indoor atmosphere. Therefore, the project has introduced better wood burning stoves (althaus 75 ltr) in the community kitchen of the institute which are fuel efficient. The use of improved stoves has as expected, saved enormous amount of energy (tree) and reduced indoor air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the consumption of fuel wood from 2 to 2 and a half truck loads to 1 truck load per month. And after the installation and use of Solar Hotwater Systems, the institution has reduced fuel wood from 1 and half truck loads to 1 truck load per month during the cold season i.e. from Oct-Mar and and a little less than a truck load in the remaining months. The hot water is used mainly for bathing and washing purposes. With the technical support of the Divisional Forest Office and Dzongkhag Forestry Sector, the monks were educated on the ways and means of environmental conservation at the local and global level. The Institute has conducted four (4) sessons on the environmental educaton program attended by the GYT (Block Development Committee) of Mongar Block, Kidhekhar Business Community, and residents and monks of the Kidhekhar Institute. The institute in turn has incorporated similar education as part of our routine religious subject and will further be disseminated whenever the institute performs religious rites elsewhere. In order to sustain the project, the Kidhekhar Buddhist Institute will take care of the equipments installed and would maintain them. The environmental education program will be inculcated in the syllabus of the Institute and would continue to impart environmental conservation education to other religious institutions of the country.

Bhutan