NO CASH CO-FINANCING IN THIS PROJECT

Background:
The project site is in Daldalay under Dagana Dzongkhag (District). In the year 1998 there was heavy landslides in most of the country and Dagana was affected the most, causing road blocks in the main road and also engulfed a huge area of agricultural land. The local farmers went begging in search of food for survival and this lasted for several months.

Problems:
There is the possibility of affecting the agricultural and landslides in and around Daldalay every season and might increase every coming monsoon which is not only a threat to the agricultural and nearby land but, it also is a threat to the human lives and livestocks. Therefore, there is an urgent need to preventive measures and rehabilitate the area for the benefit and welfare of the people living nearby and the general public living beyond the project site as well.

Rationale:
The socio-economic condition will be improved and the fear in the minds of the people living

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in and around Daldalay will be erased in the long run.

Objective:
The main objective of the project is to bring the identified landslide prone area under vegetative cover so that the area gets stabilized and the risk of land slide is reduced. The objectives are:
1. Soil Conservation- the successful implementation of the project would ensure the conservation of the soil and also help preserve the remaining agricultural land area from being washed away by landslide.
2. Source of Raw Material- As bamboo and fodder species will be planted, the community will have constant source of raw materials and fodder supply in future.
3. Demonstration plot for Soil Conservation- since a new planting technique which is being experimented by one of the local resident will be adapted, this technique if proven successful, will be replicated to other parts of the country where bamboo propagation is feasible.

4. Community Benefit- if proven successful, the community would benefit in terms of soil conservation, accessibility and the use of end product. The socio-economic condition of the people will be enhanced and the fear of being attacked by the natural calamities would be erased from their mind.

5. Public Benefit: with the enhanced socio-economic condition of the people, the national goal of Food Security and Gross National Happiness would be achieved at a micro-level.

6. Environmental Conservation: The project is in line with the GEF/SGP thematic area of land degradation, under activity number OP13, Conservation and Sustainable Use of biological Diversity Important to Agriculture.

7. National Benefit-It is the policy of the Royal Government of Bhutan to encourage the Self-Help efforts by the communities to enhance their economic condition of their living and hence improving their livelihood. Through this project the self-help motive will be realized through local people's participation, which ultimately leads to the Gross National Happiness (GNH).

Activities: The project intends to carry out the following activities to realize the above objectives:
1. Environmental Awareness Workshop:- An Environmental Awareness Workshop will be carried out with the help of technical staff from the District Administration and concerned Forestry staff in order to create awareness about the adverse effects of environmental degradation if not taken any measure to protect them, aiming to involve increased participation of the community and learn to act collectively to solve a common goal.
2. Formation of a stable terrace:- soil will be transported from a nearby construction site which is being dumped at the road side occupying space unnecessarily, and a stable terrace will be made in order to control the direct rainwater run off.
3. Monitoring: There will be constant monitoring from the concerned forestry official to ensure the proper propagation of the planted species. Corrective measures will be taken if any technical degiciencies are observed.


The project grantees have carried out the above mentioned activities. They carried out replantation work as the first plantation was again carried out by land slides. On the project monitoring visit, we could observe that the project site looks much greener and the replantation was growing well. There are also natural long grass growing, which are tall and thick both on the upper side of the road and below the road. Re-planted bamboo trees and the local tree species are also growing. Bamboo mats which was used to hold the soil was also intact.

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