Note on Green Growth for Bhutan

Bhutan has recently made significant
progress in sustaining economic growth and reducing poverty.
Bhutan also has valuable deposits of primary materials
including dolomite, lime stone, gypsum, quartzite, stone,
and marble, which are useful for fabrication of other
materials. Thus, a significant part of Bhutan's current
and prospective economic gains come from use of natural
resources called, green sectors. The basic message in this
note is that Bhutan starts from a solid base in terms of
green growth, with additional opportunities for meeting its
development goals and overcoming the above mentioned
challenges on the basis of its natural resource endowment.
However, realizing those opportunities and meeting those
challenges will require focusing on the economic
contribution from sustainable use of those natural
resources, in addition to conservation of the environment.
It will also require complementary measures, using the
economic surplus (or as economists refer to it, rent) from
sustainable natural resource use to help diversify economic
activity and address institutional and other constraints. A
more comprehensive view of green growth emphasizes
sustainable use of natural capital, along with managing
environmental risks cost-effectively and in an
institutionally sound manner to limit risks to human health
and of irreversible degradation of the natural environment.
In this context, green growth needs to balance conservation
with sustainable economic use of all resources to meet the
needs of the present, and maintain opportunities for the
future. The note touches upon issues of inclusion where
possible but not in a systematic and comprehensive manner.
The purpose of the note is to provide food for thought in
ongoing discussion of growth strategies for Bhutan, and how
green growth ideas may contribute to that discussion.