Category: Biodiversity News

A one-day national stakeholder consultation workshop on invertebrates was organized in the capital by the National Biodiversity Centre on 18^th June, 2012. It was attended by 18 participants representing various organization and agencies such as the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE), WildLife Conservation Division (WCD), RDC-Yusipang, Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN), National Plant Protection Centre, and WWF-Bhutan Program. The workshop was technically back-stopped by Dr. Willem Ferdinand Klein, Edmund Gittenberger, and Prof. Andriana Cornelia Gittenberger, scientists from the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity called Naturalis.

The main objective of the workshop was to facilitate discussion on the identification and prioritisation of invertebrates of interest and utility as well as to identify gaps in technical expertise and knowledge in the country. The result/recommendations of the workshop will be presented to the Gross National Happiness Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests for further direction and advice on the way forward in the study of invertebrates.

His Excellency Lyonpo (Dr.) Pema Gyamtsho, Minister for Agriculture and Forests, made a brief visit to the Royal Botanical Garden, Serbithang on 7^th June, 2012 and took a tour of the recently‘re-designed’ rock garden and the orchidarium. He was accompanied by the Heads of the Departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests.

The rock garden was redesigned and redeveloped with the technical and partial financial support of Mr. Thomas Hoijer, while the expansion of the orchid collection (upto 265 species) and display in the orchidarium was technically supported by Mr. Stig Dalstrom. Both these Swedish gentlemen have been volunteering at the National Biodiversity Centre to provide their technical expertise and hands-on assistance in the development of the Botanical garden and Orchid taxonomy and management capacity for over four years now.

The Botanical garden was established in 1999 as a tribute to His Majesty the 4^th Druk Gyalpo’s 25 years of golden reign. It has blossomed in twelve years from a ‘bare patch of land’ into one of the most popular ‘getaways’ for Thimphu locals as well as tourists. The Garden is poised to increase the native floral collection for the purpose of ex situ conservation as well as to inculcate a love for our native flora amongst the Bhutanese; it has also initiated efforts to rescue flora from vulnerable environments.

Bhutan spans across two major biogeographic realms, the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic and is part of the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot with a diverse array of flora and fauna. However, one of the major taxonomic groups, which forms more than 97% of the extant diversity, the “invertebrates” which includes animal groups such as mollusks, spiders, insects, worms, etc. are hardly researched or documented presenting an incomplete view of the Bhutan’s biological wealth. Therefore, in an effort to instil interest and develop capacity to fill this gap, training on inventory and taxonomy of invertebrates is underway at Rural Development Training Centre (RDTC), Zhemgang. It is jointly organized by the Ugyen Wanghuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE), Bumthang and National Biodiversity Centre (NBC), Serbithang, with experts from the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity, Naturalis. The training is attended by 16 field officials working under the Department of Forests and Park Services and that of NBC.

  The current training program is structured as a combination of lectures and field demonstrations on the basics of entomology, malacology, sampling, collecting and preservation techniques, registration and identification of different groups of invertebrates, with focus on insects, snails and slugs.

The training program is funded by WWF Bhutan program and Jigme Singye Wangchuck Environment Stewardship Endowment managed by UWICE.

The National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) in collaboration with  the Bioversity International organized a two day workshop on ‘Strengthening National Capacities on the Implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture’ from 7^th-8^th 2012. Bhutan became a member of the International Treaty in 2003 after ratification by the 83^rd session of the National Assembly. The key objectives of the Treaty are the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security.

The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Ronald W Vernooy, Genetic Resources Policy Specialist, Bioversity International with the aim to educate the participants on the ITPGRFA and also to provide a forum to identify key stakeholders that could participate in a thematic research project to strengthen the understanding and the implementation of the International Treaty, supported by Bioversity International.

The workshop was attended by a total of 21 participants from various agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests namely the  Department of Livestock, Department of Agriculture, Council for RNR Research of Bhutan, Department of Agriculture Marketing and Cooperatives, Planning and Policy Division, National Soil Service Centre, National Mushroom Centre, Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority, RNR-RDC Yusepang, RNR-RDC Bajo, National Seed Centre and the National Plant Protection Centre as well as a representative from Bhutan Alpine Seeds.