Bio-diversity

Tashigang Goenpa is located at 3200 meters above sea level on the North Eastern part of Thimphu valley. It was built in 1786 by His Holiness Kuenga jamtsho, 12th Je Khenpo. Besides the ancient monastery, the goenpa houses sixty-three student monks and teaching staff studying primary level Buddhist philosophy preparing the students for higher learning in the same field. As per custom, many students are from economically disadvantaged families who cannot afford to send them to schools for western education either due to proximity or economic situations. Over the years, as the institute began to grow in size, a number of developments have taken place including food, accommodation and infrastructures. The institute is now accessible by a motor road and grid electricity is bonus for the size of the student body. However, as the institute grows in size, it faces a number of challenges in terms of energy, water and sanitation. At the outset, electricity is only used for lighting purpose, while heating and cooking still requires a huge number of firewood (30,000 tonnes per year) collected from the nearby forests. In addition, the commercial logging in the surrounding forests has rendered firewood scarce in the area and therefore, illegal logging is rampant for both the institute and the nearby villages. On the other hand, forest degradation from both legal and illegal logging, forest product collection and over grazing has led to deterioration of the existing watersheds leading to water scarcity for the institute and other settlements around the monastery. The water and energy issues are directly linked to heath and sanitation problems faced by the monk body. Cleanliness is an issue of concern leading to various skin and parasitic diseases. To mitigate forest deterioration and watershed degradation at the biodiversity conservation level, and improve water and sanitation conditions at the institute the Project Steering Committee at Tashigang Goenpa Lobdra proposes installation of cooking stoves and solar water heaters. The project is expected to reduce firewood collection by 99 percent contributing directly to forest and watershed conservation therefore directly contributing to biodiversity conservation and climate change. In the long run, both the quality and quantity of water is expected to improve leading to proper sanitation and hygiene among the student body. Overall, the project directly responds to three focal areas of GEF/SGP namely that of (i) biodiversity conservation, (ii) land degradation, and (iii) climate change. Key Project activities 1.Protection of drupchhu holy water 2.Organic vegetable production Plantation of 2000 saplings 3.Installation of solar water heating system to reduce fuel wood consumption 4.Reduction of fuel wood consumption through use of electric cookers (three 150 litre cookers ) 5.Environment education and awareness to the monks

Bhutan