It's a suitably uplifting welcome to visitors to this remote kingdom,
a place of ancient monasteries, fluttering prayer flags and staggering natural
beauty. Less than 40 years ago, Bhutan opened
its borders for the first time. Since then, it has gained an almost mythical
status as a real-life Shangri-La, largely for its determined and methodical
pursuit of the most elusive of concepts – national happiness.
Since
1971, the country has rejected GDP as the only way to measure progress. In its
place, it has championed a new approach to development, which measures
prosperity through formal principles of gross national happiness (GNH) and the
spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens and
natural environment.
For the
past three decades, this belief that well-being should take preference over
material growth has remained a global oddity. Now, in a world beset by
collapsing financial systems, gross inequity and wide-scale environmental
destruction, this tiny Buddhist state's approach is attracting a lot of
interest.
At the
same time, placing the natural world at the heart of public policy has led to
environmental protection being enshrined in the constitution. The country has
pledged to remain carbon neutral and to ensure that at least 60% of its
landmass will remain under forest cover in perpetuity. It has banned export
logging and has even instigated a monthly pedestrian day that bans all private
vehicles from its roads.
"It's
easy to mine the land and fish the seas and get rich," says Thakur Singh
Powdyel, Bhutan's minister of education, who has become one of the most
eloquent spokespeople for GNH. "Yet we believe you cannot have a
prosperous nation in the long run that does not conserve its natural environment
or take care of the well-being of its people, which is being borne out by what
is happening to the outside world."
Powdyel
believes the world has misinterpreted Bhutan's quest. "People always ask
how can you possibly have a nation of happy people? But this is missing the
point," he says. "GNH is an aspiration, a set of guiding principles
through which we are navigating our path towards a sustainable and equitable
society. We believe the world needs to do the same before it is too late."
Bhutan's
principles have been set in policy through the gross national happiness index,
based on equitable social development, cultural preservation, conservation of
the environment and promotion of good governance.
Bhutan is
taking action to try to protect itself. Ground-breaking work is being done to
try to reduce the flooding potential in its remote glacial lakes. Yet it cannot
do it alone. Last week in Doha, campaigners pushed for more support to
countries such as Bhutan that are acutely vulnerable to climate change.
"Small
and developing countries like Bhutan must get more support, and the UK and
other governments must start actually taking action, like pledging their share
of money to the green climate fund and get it up and running as soon as
possible."
The
principles of Bhutan’s gross national happiness system are spelled out for
pupils at a secondary school in Paro, a largely agricultural region.
Photograph: Jean-Baptiste Lopez/UNICEF
Source:
This document is provided for reference purposes only and not necessarily reflect the opinion of bynaturael’s team . Train your mind to test every thought and keep on searching the final truth that satisfies the conscience inside you.
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