Bhutan Foundation

This week National Geographic’s Explorer’s Journal is featuring the Bhutan Foundation’s Jomolhari Snow Leopard Conservation Project. It features Bhutan Foundation’s Executive Director, Mr. Tshewang Wangchuk, and a young Bhutanese yak herder, Wangchuk, who captured three snow leopards feeding on one of his yaks. These images were captured on the camera trap that Mr. Tshewang Wangchuk helped Wangchuk set up in Tsarijathang valley, near Shinjeyla Pass in Jigme Dorji National Park. Here is a closer look at Wangchuk’s photos. Learn more about the Bhutan Foundation’s Snow Leopard Conservation Program here and read the National Geographic’s Journal here.

Watch the World Monument Fund’s Watch Day 2012 video.
The Bhutan Foundation’s project to restore the Wangduechhoeling Palace in collaboration with the Ministry of Home and Culture was featured in this video. The Wangduechhoeling Palace Watch Day was celebrated on October 13th, 2012 in celebration of the one-year anniversary of His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Her Majesty Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema (Queen of Bhutan).

Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE) and officials from the Department of School Education and the Department of Hydromet Services will visit 42 schools located in different regions and ecological zones of Bhutan to conduct a feasibility study on implementing a climate change monitoring program – supported by the Bhutan Foundation through a grant from the Karuna Foundation.

Based on the field study, the team will identify 20 schools to implement the first phase of the monitoring project, during which, they will identify focal teachers and students from the schools, identify and geolocate tree species, and assess sites for the installation of monitoring equipments. Phase II will include setting up infrastructure and capacity building on data generation for the selected schools.

This community based project, the first of its kind in Bhutan, will generate baseline data and share critical information among scientists, researchers, educators and citizens on impact of climate change on the ecosystem.

Read more on this program.