Category: News

𝟐𝟒 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL), led by the Department of Livestock (DoL), convened a coordination meeting with stakeholders to address key issues and challenges faced by the highland communities of Soe Yaksa and Nubri. The meeting served as a platform for collaborative discussion on securing sustainable livelihoods and promoting development initiatives in these regions.

The meeting mainly deliberated on issues that were brought to the notice of the Hon’ble Minister following His Excellency’s visit to these areas (visit date: 8-12 May). The firsthand experiences and insights gained during the visit served as a catalyst for the discussion. The meeting acknowledged the importance of addressing the specific concerns raised by the local communities and working towards practical solutions that can bring about positive change.

During the meeting, participants engaged in comprehensive discussions surrounding the specific issues affecting the highland communities. The challenges include limited access to resources, inadequate infrastructure, connectivity, water supply, and rangeland management. Recognizing the vital importance of holistic development, the meeting emphasized the urgent need to bring about developmental activities to secure the livelihoods of the highland communities.

𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲: Karma Wangchuk (Dy. Chief, DoL)

𝟐𝟑 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑: A three-day workshop was conducted in Bumthang on estimation of Green House Gases (GHG) from livestock systems using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method for the Livestock Production Officers (LPOs) of 20 dzongkhags and National Livestock Research Centre from 22nd till 24th May, 2023. The objective of the workshop is to make the participants understand the relation between livestock production system and GHG emission and familiarize them to IPCC’s software of GHG estimation. After the training, the LPOs would have enhanced understanding of relation between livestock production and climate change, know how to estimate GHG emission from livestock systems, be able to develop projects articulating their positions based on GHG calculations vis-à-vis improvements in rural livelihood and economy for the interventions they are proposing.

The participants were initially familiarized with concepts of global warming, climate change, greenhouse emissions, emissions from the AFOLU sector with emphasis on livestock-based emissions. They were also orientated on different terminologies and institutions around the climate change such as COP, UNFCCC, IPCC, Paris agreement, Kyoto protocol, NDC, LEDS, NAP, etc. Once the participants were familiarized with these concepts, they were then introduced to the IPCC software for GHG inventory estimation. The participants were made to develop farming systems and generate report on GHG emission from livestock, biogas and improved pasture from their respective dzongkhags. The participants also learned the impact of climate change on livestock and its mitigation strategies including breed improvement, improved pasture and nutrition, improved housing and biogas.

The training was funding through GEF-LDCF project titled ‘Enhancing Sustainability and Climate Resilience of Forest and Agriculture Landscape and Community Livelihoods in Bhutan’.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲: Ms. Sonam Yangchen (Dy. Chief, DoL/GEF LDCF Project Focal – Livestock Sector)