The Best Practice of Sustainability

Gross National Happiness is a way of life for locals and visitors are encouraged to live according to this philosophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lc_dlVrg5M

Bhutan has several main best practices regarding sustainable tourism, all guided by the goal of creating memorable experiences while maintaining the environment, culture and society of the country.

• Gross National Happiness (GNH)

“Our enlightened monarchs have worked tirelessly to develop a country balancing economic growth carefully with social development, environmental sustainability, and cultural preservation, all within the framework of good governance. We call this holistic approach to development Gross National Happiness, or GNH. GNH is more important than GDP” - Prime Minister Togbay

There is a strong emphasis on the goal of developing GNH. All development, including tourism development, in Bhutan is driven by GNH.

• A promise to remain carbon neutral

Bhutan is actually carbon negative. The entire country generates 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, but their forest absorbs more than 3 times that amount, so they produce a net amount of about -4 million tons of carbon dioxide. (Togbay, 2016) The government made a promise that they would remain carbon neutral, for all time to come. They use various techniques to ensure this:

-Using primarily hydroelectric power and exporting an excess electricity generated to neighboring countries, like India.

-Investing in sustainable transport, and subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles and LED lights

-Providing free electricity to rural farms. With free electricity, they will no longer have to use fire to make food or warm their homes, so they won’t have to burn wood from their precious forests

-Keeping at least 60% of all of the country covered in protected forests for all time

“The Government shall ensure that, in order to conserve the country’s natural resources and to prevent degradation of the ecosystem, a minimum of sixty percent of Bhutan’s total land shall be maintained under forest cover for all time” -Bhutan's Constitution

• Government interest

The Bhutanese government is extremely invested in the success of sustainability efforts. They are many programs that have been implemented, including programs such as

-"Clean Bhutan" which is a national cleanup program

-"Green Bhutan", a national program with the primary goal of planting trees

-More than half of the country is protected land (sanctuaries, parks, etc) and they are all connected to one another, so that the animals are free to roam the country

-Government subsidies for energy saving initiatives, like electric cars and LED lights

-"Bhutan for Life" a funding mechanism to look after and protect parks, until the government is able to take over fully. It's a transition fund with a goal of $40 million dollars, and the World Wildlife Fund is a primary partner

• $250 mandatory daily tourism tariff

The government imposes this tax to keep tourism volume low, but offering high value experiences to the visitors that are able to come. The tariff includes a mandatory guide. The initial mission statement was "high value, low volume"

“We can’t overdo tourism because it will undermine the very things we want to preserve for ourselves and share with the world. So it is a fine balance” (Togbay, 2016)

These guides used to be all government workers, but in the early 2000's, when the government realized that there were employment opportunities with the tourism sector, they privatized it and allowed more tour operators to work on their own, under the codes and regulations set by the government. The philosophy changed from “high value, low volume” to “high value, low impact”