Trongsa Dzong, Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

Jichu Drakey, Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

Health
Food Security
Climate Change
Economy
Politics
Human Rights
Information and Media

Poverty in Bhutan

Abject poverty is rare in Bhutan but the high percentage of remote communities is a constraint in the overall picture. Over 70% of the population is dependent on subsistence farming which means that the national target of reducing poverty to 13% by 2013 is predominantly a challenge for the rural economy. Figures for 2007 show that 23.2% of the population remained below the poverty line, which is assessed as the cost of essential food and non-food items. Having fallen from 36.3% in 2000, this indicator should certainly reach the less demanding target of 20% by 2015 set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Tokaphu, Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

Bhutan was one of very few countries to complete a comprehensive MDG progress review during 2008 and one of the first to identify climate change as an explicit threat to poverty reduction. The report records impressive progress in relation to neighbouring countries, especially in the area of health. Although access to primary schools in rural areas remains difficult, overall enrolment advanced to 84% in 2007 with an equal ratio between boys and girls. Both health and education services are provided free, absorbing about 30% of the national budget. Bhutan can also boast of the rare achievement in recent years of reducing the Gini coefficient, an international measure of inequality.

This admirably clear MDG report has one major shortcoming. Whilst it highlights the regional variation in poverty, it makes no specific reference to problems of exclusion experienced by the ethnic Nepalese minorities living in southern Bhutan. The government has a track record of omitting members of these groups from population data, classifying them as foreign labourers. If this is also true of the MDG statistics, their credibility would be undermined as the stateless Nepalese comprise a significant proportion of the population and are mostly very poor.

Even in the short period since 2003, population estimates have ranged wildly from 553,000 to 2.3 million. A 2008 estimate of 820,000, based on figures produced by Bhutan's Central Statistics Office, is felt to be closest to the truth. Resolution of such basic data is a prerequisite for poverty reduction strategies and assessment.

Health in Bhutan

Bhutan kids with ardisia fruits © Piet van der Poel

Both child and infant mortality rates have halved since 1990 and are expected to fall further to achieve the 2015 MDG targets. Similar results have been recorded for maternal mortality but the government has expressed concern that only 56% of births take place with the benefit of institutional care. Thanks to the provision of treated bednets in almost all areas of malaria risk, incidence of the disease has been dramatically reduced.

These positive results may have been assisted by unusually strong progress in provision of safe water and sanitation. Untypically for South Asia, by 2015 Bhutan could be close to universal coverage. The medical infrastructure itself has expanded from 4 hospitals and 11 dispensaries in 1961 to 29 hospitals and 176 basic health units by 2005. However, shortage of medical personnel remains a problem and many small isolated communities remain far from the nearest health centre.

Although the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is less than 0.1%, the recent increase in the number of reported cases has persuaded the government to be more alert to the potential spread of the virus. Bhutan displays all the standard vulnerabilities - neglect of high risk groups, low tolerance of condom use, an increasingly mobile population and attitudes of rejection towards those living with HIV.
Food Security in Bhutan

Road building in Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

Bhutan’s famed capacity for insulating its culture and traditions no longer extends to food sufficiency. The World Food Programme estimates that one third of the population is food insecure. A similar proportion of the country’s staple cereal requirement is imported and the latest official poverty figures do not take account of any hardship arising from the 2008 spiral in world food prices. Concern will focus on evidence that malnutrition amongst the population at large was already increasing by 2007, albeit from a low level.

Poor agricultural yields are the inevitable consequence of a profile of isolated small under-capitalised farms, vulnerable to extremes of weather, soil erosion and pests. Development plans aim to reach out to these rural communities with new roads and electricity supplies.
Climate Change in Bhutan

GLOF site, Thanza, Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

The metaphor of climate change as the footprint of rich countries on the poor is manifestly inadequate when applied to Bhutan. Temperatures in the Himalayas are rising faster than elsewhere and glacier retreat has been assessed recently to be as much as 20-30m each year. No fewer than 25 glacial lakes are at risk of bursting, two of them in West Bhutan possibly as soon as 2010. Apart from early warning systems, adaptation programmes focus on efforts to reduce the water level by controlled drainage. Not only is this technique relatively untried, but the logistics of conveying equipment and working in some of the most inaccessible sites on earth cast doubt on the outcome.

Unfortunately the glacial lakes are just the beginning of Bhutan’s climate woes. The weak but vital agriculture sector lacks the

Endangered capped langur, Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

capacity to adapt to changing monsoon patterns. And the glacier melt threatens to reduce the flow of rivers in winter periods of low rainfall. This in turn will diminish the production of hydropower which is the country’s main source of export earnings. It is no surprise that Bhutan’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) reflects that the “very backbone of the nation’s economy is at the mercy of climate change hazards."

This catalogue of potential calamity sits uncomfortably in a country whose Buddhist values of respect for nature and life set an example to the rest of the world for protection of forests, biodiversity and habitat. Protected areas (PA's) cover 28% of the country, while biological corridors occupy an additional 11%. Export of timber products is banned.
The Economy in Bhutan

Yak cheese seller in Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

These same Buddist values influence Bhutan's unusual economic philosophy which states that "Gross National Happiness" (GNH) is more important than Gross National Product. GNH has four main pillars: equitable socio-economic development, environmental conservation, protection of cultural heritage, and good governance. The government has tackled the thorny question of measuring GNH by proposing the Bhutan Development Index, a composite of 48 indicators under 9 headings which include “time use” and “community vitality”.

The restriction of tourism to low impact on culture and environment is one example of the application of this guiding principle of GNH. It has also enabled the MDG programme to be a natural priority of the 10th Five Year Plan (2008-2013). However, further private sector growth is needed to create jobs for the educated and the poor. Unemployment is rising amongst the younger generation in particular, infringing the values of GNH. The Plan is more ambitious than the MDGs but its funding would be dependent on external assistance for about 45% of this figure.
Politics in Bhutan

Bhutanese monks © Centre for Science and Environment

In contrast to neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan has engineered a peaceful transformation from an absolute to constitutional monarchy. A two party democratic National Assembly has been elected in a high turnout, balanced by an upper house, the National Council. Decentralisation of decision making to the districts (Dzongkhags) and blocks (Geogs) is under way. A long serving king has abdicated in favour of the youthful figure of his son, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

Despite such radical change over a relatively short period, the popular political mood has altered little. The monarchy is highly regarded and political debate has not yielded policies greatly different from those pursued by the king. Indeed, a major shortcoming of the results of the 2008 elections was the failure of the People’s Democratic Party to win more than 2 seats, such was its difficulty in presenting distinctive policies. The only real opposition to this broad consensus, potentially militant by nature, comes from refugees outside the country.

The previous government was controlled largely by Drukpas, Dzongkha-speaking western Bhutanese. Continued under-representation of southern and eastern Bhutanese was a test for the new democracy, as was the outcome for women candidates. Although women in Bhutan have the same property, inheritance and other rights as men, very few women are found in senior positions. In the event, only four women were successful in the 2008 National Assembly elections but as many as nine Nepalese-speakers were elected of which two were offered cabinet positions. However, Human Rights Watch was critical in its estimate that 82,000 stateless southern Bhutanese were denied a vote.

The dominant Bhutan Harmony Party therefore takes the country forward, under prime minister Jigme Thinley. In June 2008 the National Assembly approved a new constitution, a document which was the subject of exhaustive public consultation organised by the former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The 25-member National Council or upper house was elected in December 2007 and January 2008, comprising twenty mainly young members, standing independent of any party affiliation. The other 5 members are appointed by the King. A dramatic year for the governance of Bhutan ended with the coronation of the new king in November 2008.

Civil society in Bhutan is limited. There are no trade unions, nor associations of indigenous groups. Community Forestry Groups and Water Users Associations are formed under the guidance of government agencies. Only two NGOs exist; the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN) and the National Women's Association of Bhutan (NWAB). Their activities require government approval.
Human Rights in Bhutan

Bhutan national dress © Piet van der Poel

A population census in 1988 reportedly indicated that southern Bhutanese of Nepalese origin made up 45% of the population and were growing faster in number than the northern Bhutanese. This raised fears of Bhutan losing its cultural identity and possibly its political independence, given that the neighbouring kingdom of Sikkim (largely consisting of immigrants of Nepalese origin) had voted to become a state of India in a referendum in 1975. The subsequent introduction by Royal Decree of the Driglam Namzhag, a Drukpa (northern Bhutanese) dress and etiquette code, and the rigorous enforcement of this "national" dress code, led to protests in the south.

In the early 1990s, the army and militias were sent to the southern districts to control the violence and evict illegal immigrants, including any southern Bhutanese unable to prove their legal presence in Bhutan on 31st of December 1958. Some 100,000 southern Bhutanese fled or were forced to flee the country, the majority of whom remains to the present day in refugee camps in Nepal.

Bhutanese refugees in Nepal © Naresh Newar / United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

In 2005 the USA declared that it will accept 60,000 Bhutanese refugees while Canada will take 5000. The issue has created friction between those refugees keen to take advantage of these offers and those who believe that the Bhutanese government should not escape its moral obligation to facilitate a return home. About half have expressed interest in resettlement which has been under way since early 2008. The UN Refugee Agency wants to enter into negotiations for repatriation but the Agency is denied access to Bhutan whose government shows little intention of solving the refugee problem.

Discrimination of southern Bhutanese therefore remains. Many have problems acquiring Non-Objection Certificates from the police, which are required for voting, travel abroad, government employment, attending schools and opening businesses. There are reports of political prisoners and of mistreatment of prisoners. 30 alleged communists were sentenced to 5-8 years in jail in December 2007 for planning an insurgency.
Information and Media in Bhutan

Bhutan has one government-controlled radio and TV station. The main weekly newspaper, Kuensel, is published in three languages, Dzongkha, Nepali and English. It is in name independent, but self-censures its articles, being as critical as it can be without getting itself into serious troubles. An independent radio station and two new private newspapers (Bhutan Times and Bhutan Observer) were launched in 2006.

TV and Internet were introduced in 1999. From time to time TV channels and critical or sleazy websites may be blocked. The government has adopted a progressive ICT policy and strategy, promoting use among all sectors of society.



The OneWorld Bhutan Guide was first published in August 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Piet van der Poel

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