A small developing nation located in the fragile eastern Himalayan ecosystem, Bhutan’s key sectors affected by the adverse effects of climate change include infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, water resources, energy and health. Seventy-nine per cent of Bhutan’s population, who are subsistence farmers, will be directly affected by temperature changes and unpredictable monsoon patterns, and the infrastructure will suffer increased damage from landslides and flashfloods. As Bhutan’s economy is highly dependent on hydropower resources (which constitute over 12 per cent of the country’s GDP), the potential impacts on this sector are equally alarming. The most significant impact, however, is the rapid melting of glaciers, which will not only affect the base flow of the rivers but will also dramatically increase the risk of GLOFs. 

Timelines of the NAPA preparation process in Bhutan

NAPA projects under implementation

Bhutan’s NAPA outlined nine priority activities which are almost all location-specific. Due to the urgent need to address potential GLOFs, a project aimed at reducing these risks was given priority, and it was the first to be submitted for implementation under the LDCF. Three priority activities were selected as the project components:
1. Artificially lowering the water level in Thorthormi Lake;
2. Increasing the capacity for disaster risk management in affected valleys;
3. Installing a technical early warning system for GLOFs.

Institutional arrangements in the country: The NAPA was conceived within the framework of the Royal Government of Bhutan’s sustainable development Five-Year Plan (FYP). Bhutan’s National Environment Commission (NEC) is responsible for guiding and coordinating the executing/implementing sector agencies (ministries) and will, from time to time, monitor the ‘climate change adaptation’ components within the projects to ensure that key NAPA objectives are not being ignored. Experience with project implementation: Challenges included the need for outside assistance to develop the reasoning for the additional cost of adaptation for the project, and delays caused by a change of templates for submitting projects by the GEF. Further, given the urgent nature of the problem to be addressed, it was considered that the overall time it took from the initial development of the project concept to the first disbursement for actual implementation (three years) was longer than necessary. However, a good working relationship with the agency has facilitated progress, and the fact that the Government is familiar with UNDP’s country framework ensured that expectations were correctly managed between each partner in the implementation of the first project. Regular interaction between the national team and the GEF at UNFCCC sessions allowed the country to keep informed of progress in the consideration of its projects. The implementation of the project is now at an advanced stage. Due to difficult access to the site, the workers at the Thorthormi lake have to manually excavate a channel to lower the lake level. Some of the hired workers employed during the brief working season in the summer are women from the local community (see photo page 34). Project highlights: GLOFs are very specific to mountainous areas (the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region alone has nearly 8,800 glacial lakes, 203 of which were identified as potentially dangerous) and, therefore, this project has good potential for replication both within the country and in other countries in the region facing the same problem. Pakistan, for instance, is using Bhutan’s experience for the development of similar projects under the AF.  In Bhutan, 24 other glacial lakes were identified as being at high risk of GLOFs.