Exploring integration of the SEPLS approach into management of the Buli watershed

Overview

Buli watershed lies in the Zhemgang district of Bhutan. It is inhabited by the native Khengpa people who practice subsistence farming. The village has a heritage forest around Buli Tsho (lake). The native people respect the forest as the abode of deities, and they pray for bountiful harvest and wellbeing. Also, the watershed is rich in flora and fauna with many valuable and endangered mammal species like the Royal Bengal tiger and Golden Langur. Recognising these, the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN) and the national Watershed Management Division (nodal agency for watershed management) have initiated a watershed management plan (July 2018-June 2023). The social and ecological setting within the project area provides the perfect opportunity to bring in a Satoyama perspective to land management. There is a need to familiarise relevant stakeholders in Bhutan with the Satoyama Initiative and also inform them of the possibility to use Satoyama perspective in watershed management. It is also vital to bring in a freshwater biodiversity component within the watershed management or Satoyama practices.
Therefore, through workshops, field works and seminars, this project aims to familiarise the relevant governmental, non-governmental, academic institutions, students and community members about Satoyama Initiative and the use of macroinvertebrates to create freshwater biodiversity and as water quality indicators within the project area. The project expects the relevant agencies to take up the Satoyama perspective in their future watershed management planning, and hopes that academics and students will take up research on the Satoyama Initiative thereby helping mainstream Satoyama practices into watershed management in Bhutan.