YK Poudel
Paro — The agriculture and livestock sector which roughly employs 43.5 percent of the nation’s population is among the sectors highly vulnerable to climate change and its impacts.
Extreme weather events, pests and diseases, change in vegetation and ecological vulnerabilities were among the major impacts discussed at the three-day workshop on ‘Scaling-up livestock climate action to enhance nationally determined contributions phase II’ from November 6-8 in Paro.
About 40 participants from various government agencies and departments, research and academia and civil society organisations attended the programme, co-ordinated by the department of livestock (DoL) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Bhutan under its flexible voluntary contribution sub-programme.
Working in 2.75 percent of arable land, the primary sector contributed 14.67 percent in 2022—a decline from 38 percent in 1992.
Participants discussed the institutional arrangements, policies, data availability, and discussed the long lasting challenges and opportunities for implementing livestock mitigation and adaptation measures. Climate finance opportunities and capacity development needs for the workers were also discussed.
The livestock sector contributes the highest to the greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane gas from ruminants like cattle, sheep, and goats, posing an environmental threat.
Tashi Yangzome Dorji (PhD), director of the DoL, said that while the country is carbon negative, it is equally or even more vulnerable to impacts of climate change.
“Strategising climate action in the sector is crucial for a nation to be carbon neutral,” she said. “In Bhutan agriculture and livestock production plays a vital role in food security and elevating poverty reduction.”
Chadho Tenzin, assistant FAO representative for Bhutan, described this meeting as a crucial platform for relevant agencies to discuss and chart a way forward to charter actionable interventions and meet the target of the 13th Plan.
The ministry has set an ambitious target of contributing Nu 50 billion towards GDP in 2029 from Nu 27 billion in 2022. This would be achieved through focus on high-value agriculture and livestock production, processing and marketing.
Leki Choda, planning officer at policy and planning division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL), said that the Food and Nutrition Security Policy 2023 regulates and balances the climate change aspect of the agriculture and livestock sector in Bhutan.
The policy, he said, looks into areas such as: disaster resilient agriculture, risk management and climate-smart agriculture.
“Human-wildlife conflict, agro-met services, climate-smart and innovation, biogas, irrigation and water management are among the priorities to ensure agriculture and livestock is balanced with the changing climate,” he said.
Strategies such as the Low Emission Development Strategy for Food Security is prioritised to switch from synthetic to organic measures, increased cattle productivity through improved feeding are some of the short and long-term strategies towards adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts.
“The third Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) which will be ready in 2025 involves all sectors relevant in the agriculture and livestock sector—to ensure well informed and prioritized discussion is produced,” he said.
Bhutan’s first NDC (2017) was comprehensive and used a programmatic approach. It covered broad priority action areas. The second NDC (2021) outlined net-zero targets, low-energy development strategies, national adaptation plan, and land sector among others.
The 13th Plan document of the MoAL highlights that, the DoL will prioritise: promotion of large-scale commercial farming; enhancing support for subsistence farming to improve livelihoods and ensure food security; promotion of high-value products for export markets; enhancing ecosystem services for sustainable and resilient biodiversity initiatives; and improving the governance mechanism to enhance the business ecosystem.
To align food production with climate goals, sustainable practices are required to reduce emissions from livestock farming.
In Bhutan, strategies include improving feed quality to lower methane emissions, promoting better livestock management, and enhancing breeding programmes.
The participants discussed adopting critical measures, which contributes to maintaining the sector’s contribution to poverty reduction and food security while reducing its environmental impact.
The workshop which ended yesterday, discussed strategies for emission reduction with key proposals on improving animal health and feed, introducing specific animal breeds, and boosting biogas production to reduce methane emissions and replace imported liquified petroleum gas.
Experts from various fields including facilitators from the FAO Headquarters highlighted the potential of breed improvement to increase cattle productivity, reduce herd sizes, and lower emissions.
The project, implemented by the department of livestock, aligns with Bhutan’s climate goals under the Paris Agreement and reflects the country’s commitment to sustainable solutions that support both the environment and farmers.