Building resilience of Bhutan’s highland communities and landscapes

UNDP, GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) launch the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) Phase 4, providing grant support of USD 250,000 on sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation for Bhutan’s highland communities.

October 30, 2024

a group of people posing for the camera — At the 7th Royal Highland Festival in Laya

UNDP/Dechen Wangmo

The remote, highland communities of Bhutan not only rely on biodiversity for livelihoods, but they are also custodians of the country’s rich and pristine mountain ecosystems. However, climate change and ecosystem degradation are impacting the lives and livelihoods of the highland communities and disrupting the critical ecosystem services that the Highland landscape provides.

In a bid to boost efforts to build resilience of highland communities, their livelihoods and landscapes to the impact of climate change, SGP and UNDP launched the COMDEKS Phase 4 programme.

COMDEKS Phase 4 is a global flagship programme of the Satoyama Initiative, designed to be community-driven and support local community activities to maintain and rebuild socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes. Phase 4 is being funded by the Ministry of Environment Japan and the Keidanren Nature Conservation Council and is being implemented by the GEF Small Grants Programme at the United Nations Development Programme.

a group of people sitting on top of a mountain — Laya, Gasa district

UNDP/Dechen Wangmo

The COMDEKS Phase 4 support announcement was made on 23 October at the 7^th Royal Highland Festival, an annual event held in Laya at over 4000 metres above sea level in Bhutan’s northernmost district of Gasa. The festival brings together highland communities from across Bhutan and celebrates their spirit, resilience, unique culture and traditions.

Grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 will be awarded to projects aimed at promoting biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihood enhancement, climate change adaptation and mitigation, land degradation, and wetland and water management.

The highland communities across six districts- Gasa, Thimphu, Paro, Haa, Wangdue Phodrang, Bumthang and Trashigang- can access the grant support through a call for a proposal, which the SGP will announce in November 2024.

a group of people sitting posing for the camera — Briefing local leaders from highland communities on how to access the grant support

UNDP/Dechen Wangmo

Following the announcement, SGP and UNDP briefed the local government leaders of the highland communities, who were gathered in Laya for the highland festival, on how to access the funding opportunity through the engagement of Community Based Organizations, Civil Society Organizations and relevant technical support agencies in respective landscapes.

The grant allocation will be guided by the SGP and COMDEKS landscape strategy prepared for the Highland landscape.

For more information, contact:

Dechen Wangmo, Communications and Partnerships Analyst, UNDP Bhutan | Email: dechen.wangmo@undp.org.