The Bhutanese Leading the way.
On 26th May 2026, the Department of Forest and Park Services (DoFPS) in collaboration with the Bhutan Ecological Society (BES) hosted an inception workshop on a pilot forest certification initiative with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a reputed and globally recognized forest certification body.
The project has been allocated USD 4.7 million by the RNR Jobs Project, funded by the World Bank. The step towards achieving certification is one of the main components of the project.
To give an overview of the FSC, it runs the world’s leading forest certification system and works to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises by advancing sustainable forest management worldwide, over 160 million hectares and 70,000+ organizations certified to its standards.
This globally accredited certification will seek to further strengthen forest management in alignment with the international standards, leading the way for fetching premium prices for Bhutanese-sourced timber.
The pilot project has identified nine areas in four dzongkhags for the value-based timber extraction of around 50,000 hectares in the selected areas.
The materials will be sold in international markets to achieve premium rates and to fill the requirements for locally-sourced and internationally accredited timber materials at the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), with the Bhutan Shingzo Limited (BSL) as the main supplier of timber to the mindfulness city.
These Forest Management Units (FMUs) will be utilized for timber extraction under the certification and in the future, it will be upscaled into a larger timber industry if it produces great results.
Tashi Norbu Waiba, the Principal Forestry Officer at DoFPS said, “It is currently a pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of the certification in the key areas, and we will upscale it into a larger industry if it proves to be successful.”
He added that it will be an important component in the development of GMC as one of the core missions of the mindfulness city is the use of locally-sourced timber and wood for its infrastructure.
Moreover, it will be crucial for international businesses as they may only prefer quality and internationally certified materials.
Officials from the DoFPS, BES, the Bhutan Standards Bureau, BSL and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL) engaged in an extensive, elaborate and meaningful discussion by raising deep-seated concerns and local perspectives regarding the issuance of the certification, its standards, objectives and processes.
With this certification, it will promote Bhutan’s mission for value-based timber extraction, improved forest governance, and biodiversity conservation while achieving prospects for GMC and capitalizing on the vision of mindfulness, aligning with global standards.
