Bhutan National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA)

Project Overview

The Bhutan NAPA preparation has been a timely opportunity to look at the country’s climate change related vulnerabilities in its unique geographical setting. Nestled among the highest mountainous regions of the globe, Bhutan has enjoyed political peace, stability and development progress for the last 100 years, but the process objectively showed how highly vulnerable the country is to effects of climate change given its fragile mountain eco-systems, high dependency on monsoon rains, and the ever present threats of Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) from its northern mountain ranges.

Project Details

National adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs) provide a process for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to identify priority activities that respond to their urgent and immediate needs to adapt to climate change – those for which further delay would increase vulnerability and/or costs at a later stage. The following summarizes the list of priority NAPA projects for Bhutan:

  • Disaster Management Strategy - Planning for food security and emergency medicine to vulnerable communities
  • Artificial Lowering of Thorthomi Lake
  •  Weather Forecasting System to Serve Farmers and Agriculture
  • Landslide Management & Flood Prevention (Pilot Schemes in Critical Areas)
  • Flood Protection of Downstream Industrial and Agricultural Areas
  • Rainwater Harvesting
  • GLOF Hazard Zoning (Pilot Scheme – Chamkhar Chu Basin)
  • Installation of Early Warning System on Pho Chu Basin
  • Promote Community-based Forest Fire Management and Prevention
Signature programmes: 
Climate-related hazards addressed: 
Level of intervention: 
Primary beneficiaries: 
Through improved capacity building and project identification, government agencies will increase their abilities to insulate urban and rural populations from the adverse effects of climate change.
Implementing agencies and partnering organizations: 
Bhutan Department of Disaster Management, Dept of Geology & Mines, Dept of Hydromet Services
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Bhutan Department of Hydro-Meteorological Service (DHMS)
Bhutan Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF)
Project status: 
Completed
Location: 
Urban
Financing amount: 
200,000
Co-financing total: 
20,000

Key Results and Outputs

Module No. 1: Establishment of NAPA Team, institutional arrangements

  • Activity 1.1. NAPA Process Initiation and Management
  • Activity 1.2. Stakeholder Consultations
  • Activity 1.3. Assembly of Multi-Disciplinary Teams

Module No. 2: Adaptation Assessment Methodology

  • Activity 2.1. Adaptation Assessment Methodology Development
  • Activity 2.2. Review of initial vulnerability and adaptability assessments
  • Activity 2.3. Prioritisation of Sectors Affected by Climate Change

Module 3: Adaptation Assessments and Plan of Actions

  • Activity 3.1. Detailed Adaptation Analysis of Priority Sectors
  • Activity 3.2. Development of Proposals for Priority Activities
  • Activity 3.3. Synthesis of Detailed Sectoral Adaptation Analyses

Module No. 4: Preparation of the National Adaptation Program of Action

  • Activity 4.1. Preparation and Presentation of the Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan
  • Activity 4.2. Review of Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan
  • Activity 4.3. NAPA Document Dissemination

Reports and Publications

Assessments and Background Documents

Bhutan Second National Communication (2011)

Plans and policies of relevance to NAPs for Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

Contacts

UNDP
Gernot Laganda
Regional Technical Advisor
UNDP
Margaret Jones Williams
Country Officer
Rosemarie Bryan
Project Coordinator