The small country, sandwiched between India and China, has only 770,000 inhabitants. Bhutan is covered in forest, in fact as much as 70 percent of the country. While other countries are striving towards the goal of becoming carbon neutral, Bhutan is already carbon negative, absorbing more carbon dioxide than it emits. According to climate minister Sonam Phuntsho Wangdi, the journey towards becoming carbon negative started in the 1970s. The then king is said to have laid the foundation for an economy built on sustainable management of the forest. In 2008, Bhutan’s constitution was amended to include a goal that the country should be covered by at least 60 percent forest. Carbon negative Together with Panama and Suriname, Bhutan is a member of the small group of countries that are carbon negative. – We show the world what we can achieve if we have the political will, Bhutan’s Climate Minister Sonam Phuntsho Wangdi has previously stated. All these three countries have in common that they have a lot of forests and nature that act as carbon stores. View of the city of Punakha in Bhutan. A mixture of rice fields, mountains, forest and houses. Photo: ARUN SANKAR / AFP Nature as a carbon store Bhutan is a good example of why nature is an important part of solving climate change. The country produces around 2.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, but the forests absorb and absorb more than double that, writes Earthorg. Nature is an important carbon store, around half of man-made CO2 emissions are absorbed in the sea and by vegetation on land. NATURE: The small country has a constitutional requirement that at least 60 percent of the country must be covered by forest. Photo: ARUN SANKAR / AFP But this natural carbon sponge is under great pressure. According to a UN report, 1 million species are at risk of extinction. In the same report, 145 experts concluded that the loss of nature is as big a threat as climate change. Overconsumption of natural resources is one of the biggest causes. The photo taken in the summer of 2018 shows the capital of Bhutan, Thimphu. The city is surrounded by mountains and forests. Photo: ARUN SANKAR / AFP Thinks Bhutan can be an inspiration WWF believes the rest of the world should be inspired by the small country. – They have understood the most important thing; that leaving the forest standing is good for both the climate and natural diversity. The nature around us is the world’s best climate measure because it captures and stores more than half of all the carbon we humans emit, says Karoline Andaur, secretary general of the WWF World Nature Fund. Although Bhutan is a small country, with less than 1 million inhabitants, Andaur believes that it is possible to achieve the same in other places, including in Norway. – Here in Norway, it is urgent to stop the reduction of both bogs and forests, and to change forestry, so that we ensure that the forest binds and holds the carbon. And if Bhutan can make it happen, so can we, says Andaur. And world leaders have a golden opportunity to have political will. At the nature summit, they have ambitions to adopt a “Paris agreement” for nature.
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Bhutan is one of the few countries that absorbs more CO₂ than it emits – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
