Environmental policy and administrative management

NO CASH CO-FINANCING IN THIS PROJECT Kinchoeling village under Shompangkha geog is located between two rivers which have formed deep gorges along the sides. There are total of 70 households and agriculture is the main source of livelihood for these poor people. The place has plenty of water during monsoon season, however, during the winters the area is completely dry. Though the land is fertile farmers are unable to grow seasonal vegetables and crops due to acute shortage of water. Pertaining to the high cost estimated for renovating the existing channel and the unstable water source which cannot be relied on, the people of Kenchoeling village want to switch over to cultivating horticultural crops that can do well with minimal water. Hence, in order to have water during dry season, the community has proposed to construct rain water harvesting tanks on a pilot basis. Each of the tanks will feed a minimum of three households and a miximum of four. Experts say that there is physical enough rain in monsoon which can be harvested. Rainwater harvesting has been prioritized as an important activity in NAPA document as well. Project Objectives: The objective of the project is: 1. To establish a rainwater harvesting pilot scheme; 2. To revive the fallow land and make optimum use of it to improve the livelihood of the people; 3. To help the community learn lessons from the pilot project and try out cheap on-farm water harvesting structures to cover larger area. Activities: 1. Awareness meeting; 2. Construction of rain water harvesting tank; 3. Plantation of horticultural crops; 4. Documentation of lessons learnt. As per the progress report, the work implementation is in full swing. The entire group (KCDT) has decided for construction of cement tanks rather than Sintex for long term sustainability. Construction of 10 water harvesting tanks has been completed and two tanks are full currently. The capacity of two water harvesting tanks are 40,000 litres (each tanks capacity is 20,000 litres.) KCDT has also completed the water source protection work. Project Monitoring visit in Project Results dt. 10-14 Dec 2007

Bhutan