Thursday, December 6, 2012
Corruption Perception Index
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Pallas cat: Bhutan Wangchuck Centennial Park
Friday, October 5, 2012
New City Bus for Thmphu City
Thursday, September 13, 2012
culture and tourism could help in connecting the countries in the South Asia region
Despite being challenged by political and geographical borders, culture and tourism could help in connecting the countries in the South Asia region, think tanks from the region said yesterday.
Institute of security and international studies’ director Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak said cultural similarities and histories link most South and Southeast Asian countries.
“We have to look at the mainland like Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore where the linguistic heritage is shared and also through religion commonalities like Buddhism and Hinduism,” he said. “People’s attitude and livelihood like eating rice and curry and our values are common.”
Druk Air, for instance, brought many Bhutanese to Bangkok in Thailand, for purposes ranging from business to education, he said.
Research officer with the Centre for Bhutan Studies, Sangay Thinley said cultural linkage within the South Asian countries happened through tourism, which prevailed mostly in urban areas, while the real culture remained in rural areas.
“A South Asian tourism portal should be developed so that whenever anyone wishes to travel to another country, it should be just a distance of one to two cliffs away,” he said. “Mapping cultural activities in different countries are also important.”
Participants also discussed about media playing a major role in connecting countries through their regional and international news, which today is the social networking sites, especially for the youth. New media has also brought significant changes in connecting millions around the world, they said.
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies’ director, D Suba Chandran said that as the region develops with better transport infrastructure and energy corridors including electricity and gas, it would be in the interest of every country to get connected with these corridors.
“Today, Bhutan’s physical connectivity is primarily through air with the rest of world and if Bhutan is connected to Southeast Asia and Central Asia, it would be beneficial for Bhutan to make use of this network,” he said.
Recommendations of the conference will be presented in the next SAARC Summit.
Source: Kuenselonline
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A snow leopard in the Jigme Dorji National Park

A snow leopard climbed down from the hill to where a small herd of takin was grazing in the ground below. The grey and white furred cat aimed for a calf circling the herd, but within minutes the adult takins huddled together and, to the surprise of a group of conservationists watching, the cat slowly slithered away.
Among them was Tshewang R Wangchuk, who was recently nominated as the National Geographic explorer of the week on September 5 to highlight several years of work on snow leopards in the Bhutanese mountains.
“Learning about this cat allows me to visit the places I like,” Tshewang said, adding that it was an honour. “But it’s really the many colleagues in the field, including residents from our mountain communities, that I have come to know over the years that deserve this honour for their dedication, knowledge, experience and generosity.”
The dedicated Bhutanese team braved chilly camping accommodations in the park (Pic courtesy: newswatch.nationalgeographic.com)
The executive director of Bhutan Foundation has traversed Bhutan’s mountains from Nub Tshona Patta in Haa to Shingphel and Mela in Trashiyangtse. “Globally, Bhutan offers hope for the snow leopards that are safest in Bhutan than anywhere else across its range,” he said.
On human-wildlife conflict, Tshewang said that a cycle of conflict is complete when predators kill livestock; herders become infuriated, and kill the predator. This, he added, is not the case in Bhutan. “Our herders have a very high level of tolerance and they don’t stone the snow leopard to death as they do in other countries,” said Tshewang. “Bhutan is different and livestock predation is not something new.”
People have lived with wildlife for ages and herders often say that, when their choesung are displeased, they lose a few animals.
“I feel for their loss, but we need innovative mechanisms to reward their tolerance, not small handouts. They’re intelligent people, they have the solutions. We just have to do a better job of listening to them,” Tshewang said, adding that herders’ attitudes are changing, and government needs to act now.
“For Bhutan, we don’t have a choice and we need to give conservation a high priority, because we’ve inherited an invaluable natural heritage, and therefore have a huge responsibility to pass it on to the next generation,” he said. “We have almost a third of the 37 wild cat species in the world. Wildlife, as integral parts of our natural systems, already benefits Bhutan.”
Source: Kuenselonline