The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Recently an Al Jazeera documentary on how carbon neutral Bhutan is becoming a victim of climate change showed the country in positive light and rightly so with our environmental track record.
It showed how Bhutan, a country with still around 70 percent forest cover and absorbing more carbon than it emits, is suffering with our glaciers melting and the impacts of climate change caused by others.
As published by this paper last year, an international study showed that around 81% of the air pollution in Bhutan comes from transboundary sources.
While the above are realities, there are still things we can do to improve our exposure to various kinds of pollution.
A 2023 study by the Ministry of Health found high levels of lead in children in Thimphu. Based on these initial findings there was a much wider survey done across the country in 2024 through the National Blood Lead Level Survey on our exposure to lead and especially so for children.
The full report which was published just recently makes for some alarming reading showing how we and our children are being exposed to lead from Jinlab, spices, kitchen items, household items, toys etc.
Given that the technology to check for lead is simple and widely available our responsible agencies should take a pro-active approach in tackling this and it can be done.
When it comes to air pollution, we are better off than our neighbors but we can still make improvements.
While not much can be done about transboundary air pollution, we must deal with the air pollution sources at home, particularly in winter, which makes matters worse especially given our valleys and temperature inversion in winter that pushes any smoke to the ground level.
In the mornings and evenings people must be discouraged from burning garbage or even excessive incense offerings. Bukharis should be done away with and low-income houses should be offered power subsidies to give up wood fuel.
When it comes to forest fires a detailed study should be done and we should take preventive measures for the common causes.
These small steps will go a long way in ensuring a healthier Bhutanese population.
The environment is not a luxury but a necessity of life- Mahatma Gandhi
