The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF) has extended support toward a project entitled Enhancement of Black-necked Crane Visitor Information Center in Phobjikha. The project is specifically meant to improve and develop further role played by the visitor information center to enhance local participation in environmental conservation in Phobjikha valley.
The KNCF is a public trust established in 2000 under the authorization of the Ministry of Environment and the foreign affairs ministry of Japan. The KNCF provides assistants to the efforts and activities on nature conservation by different NGOs in the Asia pacific region. KNCF has provided assistants as far as the South America and many other nations in most continents.
However their activities in relation to Black-necked cranes can be best related to the support they provided in China to enhance the protection of Black-necked cranes and their wintering areas in Dashanbao Nature Reserve of Yunnan province through the Community Involvement and Poverty Reduction Program. As of now the assistant provided will be focused only on the structural plans.
The Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) officials said the existing visitor’s information center is a little small with the growing number of international visitors, so the assistance is focused on the structures.
The assistance is significantly high but the RSPN officials won’t disclose the exact amount as they say the donors does not prefer it to be leaked in the general public.
The RSPN will build a separate office for an already existing group called the Phobjikha Management Environment Committee in order to meet frequently for more efficient initiatives to fulfill their responsibilities vis a vis imparting necessary information to the locals to create awareness in conservation programs.
Apart from that, the RSPN has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the embassy of Finland, New Delhi. The MoU states the continuation of the Finnish grants to support community-based natural resources management program in selected villages under Lumang and Kangpara geog under Trashigang.
The project is worth over 41,342 Euros which will be implemented over a period of one year. It will focus on localized watershed issues especially in villages like (Moshi, Khaimanma, Madhuwa and Passaphu) where water sources are gravely threatened by de-forestation, over grazing, and erosions.
This assistant is the third of its kind granted to Bhutan, Initially it has supported programs under natural resources management like the establishment of community forests in Lumang and Kangpara.
