Bhutan, a landlocked country bordered by China and India, is a mountainous country featuring summits ranging from 160 meters (m) to over 7,000 m above sea level. It has abundant water resources, a healthy primeval forest, and snowcapped peaks, with abundant glaciers and alpine pastures. The country’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change stems from its fragile mountainous environment and dependence on agriculture and hydropower generation for economic development. Given the country’s limited economic diversification, hydropower disruptions from climate change events and long-term trends can lead to outsized economic impacts. Bhutan is vulnerable to hazards, such as flash floods (including glacial lake outburst floods [GLOFs]), forest fires, storms, and landslides.
INVESTING IN BHUTAN
CIF's investment in Bhutan is through it's Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) program. Bhutan’s development of a Strategic Program for Climate Resilience under PPCR aims to develop and implement a set of high priority investments that will be instrumental in orienting Bhutan toward a stronger and more sustainable pathway of climate resilient development. It seeks to tackle Bhutan’s vulnerability to climate shocks and strengthen the country’s capacity to address climate change issues that affect national, sectoral, and local planning and development.
As such Bhutan is focused on:
- Developing hydromet, early warning and climate information services for climate resilient development and disaster risk management;
- Promoting climate resilient food and water security and sustainable management of natural resources (wetland ecosystems and watersheds);
- Strenthening climate resilient integrated flood management practices;
- Introducing adaptive ecosystem based mitigation measures.
