Course:CONS200/2024WT1/Impacts of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index on national conservation

Bhutan, also known as the Kingdom of Bhutan is a small country in South Asia bordering both China and India. Bhutan is a Constitutional Monarchy where the King is the head of the State and the Prime Minister is the Head of the Government. Something that differentiates Buthan from other bordering nations is that Buthan has a Head of the State Religion, called the Je Khenpo, this role takes care of all religious matters and also establishes Bhutan as a Buddhist religious country. As a small country bordering two big countries — China and India—, Bhutan suffered much influence from both sides and, was even acquired by the British in the 18th century and imposed as part of British India.

Starting in 1907 and until around the 1980s, Bhutan saw great development and changes in its societal structures, such as the creation of the legislature, national assembly, royal advisory council, and more. This period is important to Buthans history, as it opens doors for the improvement of Buthans social aspects.

Gross National Happiness, also known as GNH, refers to a measure of collective well-being, focusing more on holistic views of human development, instead of monetary-economical views like GDP —Gross Domestic Product— would. The GNH contains four important pillars: sustainable and equitable economic development, good governance, cultural preservation and environmental protection. Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) index is a reflection of the country’s approach to development, prioritizing the well-being of its people and the environment over economic growth on its own. This previously mentioned approach was introduced by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in the late 1980s, the GNH aims to harmonize social, economic, and cultural prosperity with environmental conservation, making happiness and ecological health central to Bhutan’s political development and progress.

As Bhutan modernizes, the small country is facing pressures from neighbouring countries and growing urban populations, which challenge its low-density population goals and strain its very limited resources. The Urban expansion has increased demands on the environment, with cities and agricultural areas placing stress on Bhutan’s ecosystems. Despite these challenges, Bhutan’s economic strategy—particularly its reliance on hydroelectric exports to India—supports sustainable development aligned with GNH principles. Through GNH, Bhutan seeks to balance modernization with conservation, offering a unique model for national growth and ecological care.

Historical Context

Paro Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan. Bhutanese GNH index has a large focus on Buddhist cultural and spiritual values.

Bhutan has aimed to grow from a past isolated country to a modern nation state . To achieve this status, Bhutan focuses on their citizens well-being, socially, economically, and culturally. This is measured through a strategy called the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index that began in the late 1980s by the Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. This approach pursuits the goal of promoting environmental conservation while at the same time concerns the benefit of Bhutan's people. With this logic, a happy society cares of the long-term past and future perspectives of the environment. The GNH holds some ethical conflicts to its scale, for example the expulsion of over 95,000 Lhotshampas (Bhutanese of Nepali ancestry living in South Bhutan) in the early 1990s, and other societal divisions that may prohibit applying GNH policies . Bhutan is independant, but has been fragmented since the mid 1600s when theocratic ruled-government of district representatives arose, until 1907 when King Wangchuck brought Bhutan back under unity (however was lacking connections to western world). Since then, India (Bhutans neighbouring nation) provides economic and political relations and guidance through policies and trades. Aside from the governing changes to Bhutan, discrepancies of confusion about Bhutanese population databases have been inaccurate, inconsistent, and wide-ranged since the sixties.

Bhutans Environment

Bhutan is landlocked, and much of the terrain is high elevation mountains with vallues and forests. Indogagentic plains and rivers provide trade and transportation means for civilians and contribute to Bhutans large climate variability. There is an "astonishing array of habitats -- from subtropical to alpine tundra" (Zurick, 2006) which supports a diverse collection of biota.

Scale and Severity of Negative Impacts

Modernizations heavy impact on Bhutan (a recently previous isolated state) led to massive pressures of powerful neighbouring nations of trade, economic, and cultural practices . Migration and growing populations "often leads to a mismatch of skills and eployment opportunities" (Wallot, 2009). The increase in Bhutan's population reflects modernization challanges to commitment to environmental conservation and aim for happiness scaled through the GNH index because Bhutan prefers low density of population. However, "when influx[es] of people [enter] into the towns concentrates the impact of society on the land" (Wallot, 2009). Bhutans land consists of limited flat land, meaning only so many people can populate certain areas due to the majority of the country having mountainous terrain. As agricultural communities extended and urbanized, larger cities drained national resources which damaged the environment. To put Bhutans urbanization into scale, Bhutan provides 12% of GDP and 45% of national revenue from major economic strengths in exporting hydroelectric power to India . This urban planning discussed above aims to demonstrate urbanisation to improve the environmental sustainability through Gross National Happiness indexes.

What is GNH?

A description of the solutions or efforts that are currently underway to tackle the issue or problem.

GNH, gross national happiness, refers to a measure of collective wellbeing, most prominently demonstrated in the kingdom of Bhutan. As opposed to GDP, gross domestic product, the more widely spread model of evaluating the supposed value of a nation, GNH makes the shift from monetary indicators to a more holistic view of human wellness. This model aims to prioritize human health and happiness over the valuation of economic growth. Through this style of national valuation, the governing bodies of Bhutan attempt to view their society in a more holistic manner, paying close attention to the resident's quality of life.

Measuring GNH

Using GNH index, the wealth of wellbeing and happiness can be measured. This index is comprised of 9 domains, under each are various conditions indicative of individual happiness. With each indicator, a person's satisfaction is measured on a scale of 0 – 1, with 1 being a perfect score. "Happiness" is achieved when a score of 66% or higher is met under these conditions.

9 Domains	Conditions
Cultural Diversity and Resilience	Speak native language Cultural participation Artistic skills Driglam Namzha
Community Vitality	Donations (time & money) Community relationships Family Safety
Ecological Diversity and Resilience	Ecological issues Environmental responsibility Wildlife damage Urbanization issues
Education	Literacy Education level Knowledge Value
Good Governance	Governmental performance Fundamental rights Services Political participation
Health	Mental health Self reported health status Healthy days Disability
Living Standards	Assets Housing Household per capita income
Psychological Wellbeing	Life satisfaction Positive emotions Negative emotions Spirituality
Time Use	Work Sleep

Driglam Namzha; a system of etiquette and behaviour followed by Bhutanese citizens, including guidelines for conduct, etiquette, and dress.

Criticism of the GNH Model

A major criticism of this model is the ambiguity of components of the measurement metric. When comparing GNH and GDP, GDP is much easier to concretely measure as it does not depend on qualitative measurement. While GNH does include some quantitative measurements, for example, appraisal of living standards, it also relies on qualitative measures, such as positive/negative emotions and life satisfaction. Personal interpretation of the 0 – 1 scale of satisfaction can also implement ambiguity into a cohesive measurement. As each person may identify the end points of the scale differently, there is a lack of unity in the data.

Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, has gone on the record as saying:

"There are four issues that can compound to make matters extremely bleak: our ballooning debt that if we're not careful will not be sustainable; the big rupee shortage; unemployment, in particular youth unemployment; and a perception of growing corruption."

GNH Effects on Bhutan's Sustainability

The GNH is a singular development model that prioritizes holistic well-being and sustainable development.

• GNH driven policies
  • Environmental conservation initiatives: Bhutan's constitution mandates that at least 60% of forest cover is maintained. High quantity of national parks and wildlife corridors.
  • Renewable energy: Policies encourage hydropower as Bhutan's primary energy source.
  • Sustainable agriculture and tourism: implementation of sustainable farming practices that enhance soil and food safety. “High value, low impact” tourism model
• Focus on community sustainable practices
  • Community-based conservation: encouragement of community participation in sustainability. Sense of belonging and responsibility towards nature
  • Cultural preservation: aims to preserve cultural practices and associate them with sustainability. Buddhist philosophy is aligned with nature’s preservation
  • Inclusion of non-economic well-being: GNH includes community vitality and cultural diversity as core components. This fosters a sense of responsibility beyond financial incentives
• Challenges and limitations
  • Climate vulnerability: high dependence on hydropower make it vulnerable to climate change and events such as drought
  • Economic growth vs Environmental goals: balancing economic growth and sustainability remains complex. To manage different interests and face market pressures is a challenge.

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