Project Detail

Promoting Sustainable Livelihood through Plantation of Native Edgeworthia and Mulberry in Gedu by Karma Deley Tshogpa (KDT) to cultivate Native Edgeworthia and Mulberry and harvest them scientifically.

The project aimed to promote sustainable livelihood of Bongo Communities in Gedu, through plantation and scientific harvesting of native Edgeworthia and Mulberry and Daphne. The bark of these species are used for the production of Bhutanese handmade paper.

The Bongo communities who are aware of the depletion of the above mentioned resources, planned to mitigate this problem and with the assistence from Jungshi Paper Company and the Dzongkhag RNR Sector developed the proposal.

The main objective of the project was:
1. to preserve and promote sustainable livelihood through plantation of native edgeworthia and mulberry;
2. to create awareness on the plantation and scientific harvesting of the raw materials;
3. Conserve private tsheri land into more sustainable land use through plantations with native edgeworthia, mulberry and daphne;
4. reduce the harvesting of the mentioned species by 50%;
5. Increase the household income of participating farmers by 20% percent through sale of harvesting materials.

The objectives were realized in the following aspects:
1. created awareness on the plantation and about scientific plantation. Therefore, more farmers got interested enough to join the membership and carry out the plantation. The site visit report states that the plantations have increased;
2. private tsheri land into more sustainable land use through plantations - nurseries were raised and the saplings have been transplanted in private lands.
3. Reduced the unnecessary harvesting from the local forest.

Although some of the objectives were realized, the marketing aspect is questionable. The Jungshi Paper Company as indicated in the proposal as the 'ready market' have not been able to place demand for the harvested materials to be used in their company. Therefore the 20% income of the participating farmers has not been realized.

We are yet to see the result further after a few more years of time.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Karma Deley Tshogpa

Country:

Bhutan

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 2

Grant Amount:

US$ 24,504.00

Co-Financing Cash:

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 46,302.30

Project Number:

BHU/00/03

Start Date:

10/2000

End Date:

9/2003

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Capacity - Building Component

20 farmers have been trained and many more learnt the art by joining the Group.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

A revolving fund scheme has been established.

Gender Focus

Both men and women participated in the project actively.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Environmental Awareness Workshop was held to create public awareness about GEF/SGP and how local interventions can effect the Global Environment.

Policy Impact

The policy of self-helf by the farmers have been demonstrated although in a little way and the District Administration has been convinced that the Bhutanese farmers can play a role in sustaining themselves if guided in a positive way.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The projects emphasises on securing sustainable livelihood through plantation and sustainable harvesting of native Edgeworthia and Mulberry. However, it has been quite difficult to achieve at this point of time as the ready market has not been able to place any demand for the supply of materials. However, as the collaboration between the grantee and the concerned personnel involved, there might be scope of diverting the materials to other markets. A revolving fund scheme has been established with membership fees of Nu. 1000 per member. Once the beneficiaries start to earn from the sale of fibres harvested from the plantations, they intend to deposit 10 percent of their income into this fund.

Notable Community Participation

There is notable community participation as the project activities are directly linked to the livelihoods of the local communities. The participating communities were already involved in harvesting of these native species for handmade paper production. We need to give some more time for the sustainability of the project.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

local farmers has participated in the project. There was growing participation of the community and the membership of the KDT expanded to 32 farmers from 18 members.

Project Results

The end result is that we need to work more on the marketing strategy for such kind of projects and having done that, we could replicate to other project activities.

+ View more

Back to search results

Countries

Regions

Project Snapshot

Partnership

SGP Country office contact

Address