The World Wildlife Fund, Tarayana Foundation, and the Bhutan government would undertake a big conservation project worth € 0 million in southwestern Dzongkhags in the next eight years, thekuensel.com reported.

The project is funded by the International Climate Initiative which comes under Germany’s Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. 

The project will cover Haa, Thimphu, Paro, Chhukhna and Samtse districts in Bhutan to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem of the region. The project aims to promote high conservation values outside the protected areas and also to integrate the areas under it into the national land-use plan. Currently, Bhutan has 24% of land under protected areas. 

Lobzang Dorji, the forest director, said, “Forest department will carry out the technical component and the social component will be implemented by the Tarayana Foundation.”

The Project will help the livelihood of 62% population in the country who lives in rural areas, said Agriculture Minister Yeshey Penjor. 

The German Ambassador to India, Walter J Lander, concurrently accredited to Bhutan, applauded Bhutan’s conservation efforts.