Skip to main content

Clean up visit to Royal Botanical Park


Participants cleaning Hongtsho area

Thirty eight students including three teachers of Nature Club from Motithang Higher Secondary School, along with staff and community representatives from Chang Gewog, Thimphu Dzongkhag and forestry staff of Nature Recreation and Ecotourism Division (NRED) and Royal Botanical Park (RBP) under the Department of Forests and Park Services (DoFPS) carried out clean up along the national highway till RBP, Lamperi on 23 April 2011. This was the first such activity initiated by the Department of Forests and Park Services to highlight the problem of indiscriminate garbage disposal in the forest areas-which is an important environmental issue calling for a joint coordinated efforts by all stakeholders.
This is also in line with the recent directive from the Hon’ble Minister, MoAF that henceforth DoFPS and its field offices will take active role in waste/garbage management in forest areas.
A total of 60 participants gathered at YHS parking at 8.30 am on Saturday morning and after a short briefing on the program for the day by Sonam Choden, Senior Forest Officer, NRED, the group stopped to clean up garbage at Hongtsho and Dochula areas. From Dochula, the group trekked through Dochula Nature Trail, 1.5 Kms till PWD labour camp, collecting garbage along the way. The group collected 15 large sacks (Greener Way sacks) of garbage in total, out of which 4 sacks were pet bottles and the rest were other garbage such as rags, papers, cartoons, plastics, huggies etc. The garbage collected were brought back and handed over to Greener Way base at Olakha for further sorting and recycling.
In addition to the clean up, the students and community representatives also had the opportunity to visit recreational and educational facilities in the park such as visitor center, rhododendron, medicinal plants and orchid gardens, children’s park, Baritsho lake, yak herder tent, eco-campsites and green house. In the visitor center, presentation on environmental issues including garbage problem was made by Park In-charge Mr. Tenzin Phuntsho followed by screening of park documentary.
Sonam Choden, the coordinator from NRED said, “Such activity will be a monthly feature henceforth involving different schools under Thimphu”.
Besides carrying out the clean up, the visit was also organized to help inculcate and develop appreciation for nature by the students and how individual actions can contribute to resolving environmental issues such as waste management.
Sonam Wangchuk, the student representative put the experience of all the visiting members saying that it was an experience they’ve never dreamt of. They thanked the department for conducting such activity, which gave them opportunity to learn about the park, environmental issues and participate in clean up activity.
Tshering Dema, a community representative from Hongtsho said “When outsiders volunteer to do cleaning of our area, it is also our uncalled duty to support and participate”.
The program was organized by NRED with financial support from Royal Government of Bhutan.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Long, long, long journey to Education

“Root of the education is bitter but the fruit is sweet” no one would know about it better than Kado. The fatigue of having to toddle to the school, fever of unending exams, the torture of having to burn the midnight oil, dozing in classes and the stern rigors are hard to endure, few even give up on the way but many endure it with utmost determination and commitment, because deep inside everyone knows it pays later. “Root of the education is bitter but the fruit is sweet” no one would know about it better than Kado Kado in the tender age of 12 is negotiating the lazily meandering footpath along the steep mountain. His school bag, full of books, pulls him back. His black naughty boy school shoe is all soiled, indication of how many times he has trudged that same footpath. He is on his way to the primary school in his village, almost 5 kilometers away. He has to make sure he is in the school before morning social work starts; else he gets penalized. Unlike the students who reside nearb...
Post a Comment
Read more

Defining Tsa-Wa-Sum in One’s own Perspective

If I am asked, I would boldly answer, “The Tsa-Wa-Sum is “Gyeb, Gyelkhab and Meser”, (King, Country and People). But not everyone knows about what tsa-wa-sum is. Hence, when the superior ask them, they are left to conceive their own tsa-wa-sum. Once a meeting was convened by the Dzongdag. In a large congregation of illiterate rural people, the Dzongdag thundered, “do you know what tsa-wa-sum is?” “Can anyone from the crowd tell me?” The crowd went to pin drop silence and no one seems ready to answer. Are they scared of Dasho or no one has the slightest idea what it is? Suddenly, a Ngalop man sitting in the last bench, for whom Dasho is hardly visible, stood up. With his head bowed low, he answers, “The three tsa-wa-sum are Ngalops, Sharchops and Lhotsampas”. “This is because they are the three race in Bhutan” Dasho went into bout of annoyance but before he fired the man, another Lhotsampa (Southern Bhutanese Man) supplemented, “the three tsa-wa-sum are Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) Royal B...
1 comment
Read more

Eternal Enemies

The Cats and Dogs are often adopted by the people in the metropolitan as pets. They go pretty good as pets since they are known to be endearing animals. Some set of folks have their paramount love and passion for these animals. But back in the village, these two creatures are mainly spared space in the home to shoulder their own responsibilities. For instance, the cat is entrusted with the job of dwindling or keeping at the sea bed, the number of rats referred to as naughty rodents in the village. And the dog cannot keep eating what the owner provides and sleep. At night, they have to escort the owners into the corn field and keep barking to keep away, the lurking night’s ambusher (deer, bears, porcupine, and wild pig etcetera). So, I see no overlapping of their right to food and duties. But, many might have surely taken the notice of these two four legged animal never tolerating each other’s presence. One fine day they meet but await a big confrontation. The sight of one another inv...
2 comments
Read more