The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The enumeration phase has finally kicked off from Paro on July 25 after exhaustive preparations to conduct nationwide forest inventory in Bhutan, by the Forest Resource Management Division (FRMD) of Forests and Park services department.
Through systematic collection of the data and forest information for assessment and analysis, the National Forest Inventory (NFI) is expected to provide comprehensive data and information on the state of forests in the country.
The NFI will benefit the government organizations and Non-Government Organizations particularly those with policy, planning, management, monitoring, mapping and assessment mandate pertaining to forest, natural and biological resources of Bhutan for the economic development, sustainable management and improvement of quality of life in Bhutan.
“Regional, national and international institutes dealing with climate change issues and carbon sequestration will also benefit from this project,” stated a press release from the agriculture ministry.
The data will be collected from the 2424 cluster plots of four regions by twelve NFI crews which comprises five forestry personnel. The enumeration phase will move to Thimphu, Haa, Punakha, Wangduephodrang and Gasa for the Western region.
An official with FRMD said that NFI of Bhutan will envisage to gather a wide range of necessary information. “Such information on our forest will ultimately facilitate formulation of sound policies and programs concerning forests resource management in Bhutan at national level.”
Not withstanding such benefits, completion of NFI will provide data and necessary information, required under international and regional conventions and framework that Bhutan is signatory to. The NFI will enable the division to assess and monitor 60% forest cover as mandated by Constitution of Kingdom of Bhutan.
Bhutan committed to be carbon neutral at the 15th Conference of Parties held in Copenhagen. The NFI will also come up with precise amount of carbon sequestering capability of the country. Moreover, it will also pin-point the different attributes of forests system such as forest cover, forest type and forest resources (timbers and Non-wood Forest products).
The inaugural ceremony was attended by the officials of the Gups of Hungrel and Wangchang gewogs of Paro Dzongkhag, four national forest inventory crews of the Western region and the six NFI Crew leaders of the other three regions.
