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Scoping Study to Ascertain the Awareness on the Value of Biodiversity in Three Protected Areas

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Scoping Study to Ascertain the Awareness on the Value of Biodiversity in Three Protected Areas AUGUST 7, 2018 DRAFT SCOPING STUDY TO ASCERTAIN THE AWARENESS ON THE VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY IN THREE PROTECTED AREAS UNDP, BHUTAN Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2 2. History of Environment Education (EE) ............................................................................. 3 3. Objectives and the Scope of the Study .............................................................................. 6 3.1 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 8 3.1 Desktop study and review of literature .................................................................................. 9 3.2 Primary Data Collection and Coverage.................................................................................... 9 3.3 Focus Group Discussion/Key Informant Interview (KII) ........................................................... 9 3.4 Field Observation .................................................................................................................... 9 3.5. Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 9 3.6 Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................................ 10 4. Summary of Findings ...................................................................................................... 10 4.1 Jigme Dorji National Park...................................................................................................... 11 4.2 Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park ................................................................................ 12 4.3 Jigme Khesar Strict Nature Reserve ...................................................................................... 13 5. Demography and Social Structure .................................................................................. 14 5.1 Study area and Respondents ................................................................................................ 14 5.2 Age and Education ................................................................................................................ 16 3.3 Understanding of Biological diversity by Respondents ......................................................... 18 3.4 Environmental Education Program ....................................................................................... 22 3.5 Conservation Activities ......................................................................................................... 26 3.6 Environmental problems ...................................................................................................... 27 6. Discussions...................................................................................................................... 28 7. Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 31 8. Reference ........................................................................................................................ 32 9. Annexure:....................................................................................................................... 33 Annexure I: Respondent lists under three PAs – JKSNR, JDNP and JSWNP ................................ 33 Annexure II: Questionnaire for Scoping Study to Assess Awareness on Biodiversity – For Household. ................................................................................................................................. 35 Annexure III. Questionnaire for Protected Area Staff (Park manager or EE focal) ...................... 39 Annexure IV: People Consulted .................................................................................................. 42 1. Introduction In terms of Bhutan’s efforts in environmental education and public awareness programs, it has a well-recognized history as early as the late 1980s. Both government and non-governmental agencies have been actively involved in running these initiatives through establishment of school nature clubs and School Agriculture Programs; awareness-raising through different forms of media; celebration of the national social forestry day and significant environment days on the global calendar. However, such awareness programs have been ad hoc and limited to the basic understanding on environment, forests, protected areas, waste management, conservation activities, etc. The National Environment Protection Act 2007 mandates National Environment Commission (NEC) and its Secretariat to raise environmental education, advocacy and awareness. The past Biodiversity Action Plans of Bhutan and other national documents such as the Tiger Action Plan for the Kingdom of Bhutan 2006-2015, and National Action Plan on Biodiversity Persistence and Climate Change, 2011, reiterate the need for improving and up scaling Environmental Education in a coordinated manner. Despite the explicit directives provided by the Act and the national documents to implement environmental education and awareness programs at various levels, there is still a lacuna in the system in reaching out to the public at large. What has been lacking quintessentially is a well-planned and coordinated mechanism amongst the relevant biodiversity stakeholders to ensure that the environmental education and awareness program elevate the public understanding of the importance of biodiversity and their role in conserving it. This has resulted in lack of information on the level of public understanding of biodiversity and its values and formulation of appropriate awareness programs. Currently, about 66 per cent of the population interacts with Protected Areas (PAs), where environmental education is part of the protected area management as mandated by environmental legislations. However, these programs are ad hoc and limited to raising awareness on environmental rules and regulations or basic understanding of the environment and environmental problems. There are also a number of on-going Environmental Education programs targeting different sections of the population beyond the protected areas. However, what has been solely lacking is an institutionalized mechanism to ensure that the public understanding of the importance of biodiversity and their role in conserving it, as well as environmental legislations, are elevated. Thus, as a first step, it is crucial to ascertain the proportion of the population aware of biodiversity and its values, which will guide in assessing the efficacy of the existing awareness initiatives and identify gaps and target groups. In targeting 60 per cent of the population, efforts will be focused primarily on the population living within the PAs. 2. History of Environment Education (EE) The concept of Environmental Education (EE) can be traced back as far as 1948 and the IUCN conference but the turning point of EE was the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden,(R.L Carter et. al., August 2010).This international conference produced a declaration containing 26 principles of which, principle 19 of the Stockholm Declaration states, “Education in environmental matters, for the younger generation as well as adults, giving due consideration to the underprivileged, is essential in order to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises and communities in protecting and improving the environment in its full human dimension. It is also essential that mass media of communications avoid contributing to the deterioration of the environment, but, on the contrary, disseminate information of an educational nature on the need to protect and Improve the environment in order to enable man to develop in every respect”(UNESCO 1978) Smyth, 2006 defined EE as an organized intervention geared towards teachingindividuals to adopt more ecologically sustainable lives by understanding about the functioning of natural environment, particularly, how humans and other life forms interact with the environment and its resources in the ecosystems. Environmental Education is a process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment; which is supposed to allow individuals develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions. According to Gruenewald, 2004, EE rests upon four fundamental principles: i. EE increases public awareness and knowledge on environmental issues, ii. EE teaches individuals critical thinking, iii. EE enhances individuals’ problem solving and decision-making skills, and iv. EE does not advocate a particular viewpoint but works on generalized viewpoints. For Bhutan modern education started around 1961 with the start of five-year development planning. Earlier to that, Bhutan had formal monastic education and it is supposedly have begun as early as1622 at the Chari in Thimphu (Dorji, 2005). Along the same time (in the1960s) the formal conservation programs in Bhutan were instituted with the designation of the Northern and Southern Wildlife Circles and the designation of the first protected area – the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in 1966. Important conservation and development partners, such as UN agencies were established in Bhutan
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