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However, it is expected that by 2050, carbon emissions will rise to 7.52 million tons, carbon storage will be 7.255 million tons, and the national net carbon storage will be negative.
Yangel Bin Laden
According to the latest report released by the Department of Forestry and Parks Service (DoFPS) of Bhutan, Bhutan’s Protected Areas Forest Carbon Accounting (FCAPA) 2022, the country’s protected areas have the potential to absorb 5.88 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide and store more than 300 million tonnes of carbon each year.
Currently, Bhutan’s national forest coverage rate is 69.71%, of which 50% are protected areas, including five national parks, four wildlife sanctuaries, one strict nature reserve, one botanical park and nine biological corridors.
Lobzang Dorji, former director of the Bhutan Forest and Wildlife Department, said the report was an important step in understanding the environmental assets of Bhutan’s protected areas. “While the effectiveness of protected areas as a tool for climate change mitigation and adaptation is hotly debated at national and international levels, the potential of Bhutan’s protected areas for climate change mitigation has not been properly studied,” he said.
He said the report provides a detailed analysis of the carbon dynamics in these regions, providing valuable insights for policymakers, environmentalists and researchers to make informed decisions.
Bhutan is committed to becoming carbon negative (absorbing more CO2 than it emits), a commitment reaffirmed at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2009. It is ranked alongside Panama and Suriname as one of the three carbon negative emission countries in the world.
However, despite these achievements, Bhutan still faces challenges. The latest greenhouse gas inventory predicts that the country’s carbon dioxide emissions will reach 5.23 million tons by 2025. This is in stark contrast to current carbon sequestration capabilities, highlighting the importance of protected areas to maintaining Bhutan’s carbon negative status.
By 2050, carbon emissions are expected to increase to 7.52 million tons, while carbon sequestration is expected to reach 7.255 million tons, which may turn the country’s net carbon sequestration into negative. This means that Bhutan will emit more carbon than it absorbs under normal circumstances.
The report also states that protected areas have emitted 1.95 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since 2016 due to land use change, deforestation, timber and firewood harvesting, and forest fires.
Between 2016 and 2020, the forest area in the protected area decreased by about 80,668 hectares, but recovered 35,502 hectares, for a net loss of 45,166 hectares. However, between 2020 and 2022, the net gain will rebound to 12,443 hectares.
Overall, there was a small net loss of forest land between 2016 and 2022, with 0.31% converted to cropland, 94.69% to grassland, 0.38% to settlements, 1.23% to wetlands and 3.38% to other uses, according to the FCAPA report.
The report recommends improving deforestation tracking using high-resolution satellite imagery and better field verification to monitor land use and land cover changes in protected areas, among other things.
The Bhutan Forest Conservation Authority aims to maintain 206 million tonnes of CO2 storage in protected areas indefinitely. It also plans to capture an additional 35.1 million tonnes of CO2 between 2018 and 2031 through natural forests, restoration projects and renewable energy initiatives. The goal is to capture 2.51 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year through plant growth with the help of the Bhutan Life Project.
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