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Monday, January 24, 2011

bhutan to monitor health hazards related to climate change


Surrounded by snow capped mountains, people of Lhasa in Tibet had never even seen a mosquito in their lives. Today, studies have shown that the parasites have started appearing in the high altitude city. Similarly, it has started appearing in Thimphu which did not have the parasites just about a decade ago.
This is an example of the changing climate and its impacts which is having major impacts on human health. All such impacts will now be monitored and dealt in an organized way with the Ministry of Health having launched a adaptation project called “Piloting Climate Change Adaptation to Protect Human Health.”
Funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the project is the first ever to work on planning, implementing and monitoring adaptation measures to protect human health against climate change. It will also strengthen the national capacity to identify and prevent adverse climate change related outcomes in Bhutan.
The health secretary, Dasho Dr. Gado Tshering, said that currently one of the biggest problems that the world faced is the environmental change and the problems related to it.
“All sentient beings are threatened by climate change and Bhutan is not free from it,” he said.
Bhutan is one of the seven countries to take part in the GEF funded project. Bhutan and Kenya were selected as a highland area, Fiji and Barbados as small developing states, Jordan and Uzbekistan as water stressed countries and China for its multiple vulnerabilities.
This project will support capacity building including institutional capacity for preventing measures like planning, preparedness and monitoring disaster related to climate change which will have great benefits at a national and community levels.
“This project focuses on institutional capacity building so that we are prepared to take actions whenever climate related disaster strikes,” said Dasho Dr Gado Tshering.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will be the implementing agency for GEF and provide broad expertise in adapting to climate change while the World Health Organization (WHO) will be responsible for the project design phase, technical support and the selection and implementation of health protection measures. The Ministry of Health will be the key implementing agency in the country.
The UNDP and WHO country offices in Bhutan will also provide technical expertise on the project, report on the status of the project execution, and provide guidance regarding the technical soundness of the project.
The Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) will oversee the management of the project and other GEF funds and ensure timely receipt of the project fund and disbursement to the ministry of health for implementation of the project.
The total funding for this project for all the countries is US$ 4.5mn, of which Bhutan will receive US$ 0.450mn.

1 comment:

  1. Silica Hair - Nice, and thanks for sharing this information with us. This is a very informative site. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete