Bhutan - Overview

Remark:

Please note that this country profile has been prepared by the Secretariat on the basis of information provided in the NBSAP and national reports, but has not been reviewed by the Party concerned.

Status and Trends of Biodiversity

Overview

Bhutan, a small Eastern Himalayan country, ranks in the top 10% of countries with the highest species richness per unit area in the world. It has been designated as one of the ten Biodiversity Hotspots in the world and the centre of 221 Global Endemic Bird Areas. The rich biodiversity of Bhutan includes more than 120 species of butterflies, 28 of which are endemic to the Eastern Himalayas, and as many as 750 plant species endemic to the Eastern Himalayas... More »

Number and Extent of Protected Areas

Protected areas cover 26% of Bhutan’s territory whereas 9% of additional land has been declared as biological corridors connecting the protected areas. With the addition of conservation areas, more than 35% of the country’s area is under some form of conservation management.

Percentage of Forest Cover

64.5%

National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan

Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

The 2002 Biodiversity Action Plan is a follow-up of the original document released in 1998. It is organized into five chapters, with the first two representing an inventory of the biodiversity of Bhutan and the efforts undertaken to conserve and use it wisely. Chapters 3 and 4 present the actions needed to conserve and sustainably use the country’s biodiversity and the last chapter presents options for actions that can be taken to realize additional benefits from Bhutan’s rich biodiversity... More »

Implementation of the Convention

Measures Taken to Achieve the 2010 Target

To ensure the conservation of ecosystem and habitat biodiversity, the Royal Government has a policy guaranteeing that at least 60 % forest cover will be maintained at all times. In addition, 26 % of the total land area representing all climatic and biodiversity zones is under protected area management and an additional 9 % is set aside as biological corridors... More »

Initiatives in Protected Areas

All of Bhutan’s Protected Areas (PAs) have local communities living in and around them. These communities are more or less dependent on agriculture or livestock rearing and are either directly or indirectly dependent on the resources within the PAs. As such, the Integrated Conservation and Development Programme aims to reduce the impacts of local resource use on biodiversity of the Protected Area, make resource use more sustainable, reduce resource use in the core areas of the PAs, while at the same time improving the living conditions of the local population... More »

Initiatives for Article 8(j)

The Biodiversity Act of Bhutan, enacted in 2003, explicitly protects indigenous rights over traditional knowledge. The involvement of indigenous communities in decision-making related to the use of traditional knowledge is achieved through activities such as the community-based natural resources management projects.

National Contacts

Full details of national contacts »

Convention on Biological Diversity

Mr. Karma C. Nyedrup

CBD Primary NFP, CHM NFP, SBSTTA NFP, Access and Benefit Sharing NFP, Protected Areas NFP, Global Taxonomy Initiative NFP, GSPC NFP

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Mr. Karma C. Nyedrup

Cartagena Protocol Primary NFP, BCH NFP