General

The Country observes the Social Forestry Day on 2^nd June of every year coinciding with the Coronation Day of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck. Bhutan has earned international acclaim and is considered a role model in the field of environmental conservation. Today, Bhutan is one of the few remaining biological hotspots in the World and the unspoiled environment support thriving population of endangered species. Forests are no doubt fundamental for the well-being of humanity and are intricately linked to the very survival of a mountainous country like ours. Protecting nature today means a better planet for future generations. However, like everywhere in the world, our forests are also under tremendous pressure from both manmade and natural causes. To curb such challenges, community involvement in sustainable forest management has become quite important. In order to support the noble initiative of His Majesty The Fourth Druk Gyalpo and collectively celebrate His Majesty’s leadership in the field of environmental conservation, mass plantation and maintenance of the already planted areas are taken up every year on this day as Social Forestry Day by Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited (NRDCL) by taking up plantation works in addition to its normal activity of raising nursery for seedlings, taking up plantation in blank areas, reforestation in degraded/deforested areas, rehabilitation of fire burnt and pest/disease affected areas in different parts of the Country. As usual, the Regional and Branch Offices of NRDCL took up the maintenance of existing plantation and created new plantation in the respective areas, as follows:

From 1989 to 2021, NRDCL has created 2239.86 hectares of plantation across the Country and 881.36 hectares of established plantation was handed over to DoFPS in 2015. Starting 2017, NRDCL through some fund support from some of the sister companies like BPC, DGPC, BTL, BoBL and DAC under the DHI had planted around 35,200 number of tree seedlings of various species in around 23 hectares of land at different parts of the Country as part of the Green Compensatory Plantation Program. Apart from the above, NRDCL in 2021 will create 85.50 hectares of new plantation and maintain 361.58 hectares with an investment of Nu. 10.30 million. Coinciding with the Coronation Day of His Majesty The Fourth Druk Gyalpo, “Zero Waste Hour” campaign with the theme “My waste, my responsibility” launched by Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen on 2^nd June 2019 with an aim to instill a behavioral change for proper waste management and practice sustainable consumption lifestyle is also marked. For NRDCL, the day is marked by celebrating these important events across various Regional and Branch Offices of the Country.