ABSTRACT
Connectivity conservation management Although the biological corridors in the B2C2 were identified and given official recognition by the government, development and implementation of clear management guidelines had not been completed by 2006. The Nature Conservation Division within the Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with other line ministries and local government bodies, including park managers, divisional forest officers and Dzongkhag (district) forest officers, was mandated with conservation and management of the B2C2 system. From 2003, with funding from Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and WWF, the Nature Conservation Division had an ongoing programme to carry out biodiversity and socio-economic surveys, along with stakeholder consultations in the parks and corridors. With the limited capacity of the government, management of biological corridors was expected to be a gradual process with a need for careful and long-term planning, training, and
awareness-raising, along with pilot activities in selected areas. The conservation strategy in the corridors was
to consist of conservation-friendly land-use options that ranged from forest management units, community forestry and traditional agricultural practices. However, because most corridors lay along steeper sloped terrain and along mountain ridges where forestry practices and forest clearing was prohibited, land-use practices that entailed resource exploitation would be limited in extent. Instead, maintaining the intact forests was to be the primary option throughout most corridor areas. The initial priorities for conservation interventions were 21 critical bottleneck areas (Figure 6.1C), where corridor width was restricted to less than 2km due to land uses such as roads and farms, causing connectivity to be tenuous. The forest resource policy of the government
supported and promoted sustainable natural resource exploitation. Since a large segment of Bhutan’s population was dependent upon forest products, the government recognized the need for sustainable management of its forests. It also recognized that intact forests were linked to its economic mainstays: tourism, hydropower and timber. By 2006, gross revenue from tourism was expected to exceed US$21 million (RGB, 2002b). Bhutan’s up market tourism industry, which promoted a Himalayan experience, was based on a pristine and intact environment. Bhutan also saw the export of hydroelectricity to neighbouring India as an important future economic potential. In 1997, at the start of the 8th Five Year Plan, taxes and dividends from the hydropower sector contributed to 45 per cent of government revenue (RGB, 2002b). The government expected to capitalize on a potential 30,000MW of hydroelectricity, and set a target to achieve 100 per cent rural electrification by 2020. Therefore, Bhutan’s development policy and
aspirations were dependent on maintaining environmental integrity. Realizing this, the government made a commitment to maintain at least 60 per cent intact forest cover. The Bhutan Biological Conservation Complex met over half of this target, and provided the foundation for this conservation goal. Since steep topography made most of Bhutan’s land area unsuitable for agricul-
ture and large settlements, conservation of an additional 25 per cent of land area as forests was not an unattainable target, especially since it was in Bhutan’s economic interests to do so. Over the next ten years, threats to corridor
habitats will be identified and conservation strategies will be developed and implemented in all corridors. Corridor management plans will include various land uses and land management regimes and classifications such as agriculture, pasture, forest types and degree of expansion of human settlements that can be permitted within corridors. It will also indicate the legal status of the land uses within the corridors. Imple - mentation of the management plan will be concurrent with the issuance of a legal notification to the general public on the status of the corridors. The legal status of the corridors will be derived from the Forest and Nature Conservation Act 1995, wherein power is conferred on the Ministry of Agriculture to declare such conservation areas. The designated corridors have been classified
into three categories based on their width and intactness, and will require different management options:
1 Intact corridors connect protected areas and allow the potential exchange of species between otherwise isolated protected areas to ensure long-term viability and continuing evolution of the natural biota. No new development should be approved in these corridors that can potentially sever or restrict the corridor to less than 2km in width. Forest Management Units to meet local demands for timber and firewood can be permitted in these corridors, provided they are managed according to sustainable harvest regimes.
