The National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan is a strategic instrument and plan whose vision is to attain a happy and resilient Bhutanese community, nurtured by rich spiritual and cultural traditions, valuing biodiversity and living in harmony with it. The overall objective is that by 2020, through a holistic, concerted and effective approach, biodiversity is valued, conserved and sustainably used to provide essential ecosystem services for the economic, environmental and social well being of the present and future generations. The document sets out 20 national targets aiming at the protection of biodiversity. These targets aim at ensuring that, inter alia: (i) national capacity is established for valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services to integrate into national development planning and policy-making process and national accounting system; (ii) incentives harmful to biodiversity are reformed and positive incentives are enhanced; relevant stakeholders adopt the principles of sustainable production and consumption of natural resources and have kept the impacts of use of natural resources well within safe ecological limits; (iii) high-biodiversity value habitats are mapped, the rate of loss is accounted, trends monitored and overall loss and fragmentation reduced; (iv) the baseline for fish and key aquatic biodiversity is established for implementation of sustainable management plans; (v) areas under agriculture and forestry, including rangeland, are managed through the adoption of sustainable management practices, ensuring conservation of biological diversity; (vi) pollution from different sources, including from use of fertilizers and agro-chemicals affecting biodiversity and ecosystem functions are maintained within the national environmental standards; (vii) invasive alien species and pathways are identified and prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and measures are in place to manage pathways to prevent their introduction and establishment; (viii) the potential impacts of climate change on vulnerable ecosystems are identified and adaptation measures strengthened; (ix) the genetic diversity of key cultivated plants and domesticated animals, including that of crop wild relatives are documented and conserved; (x) priority degraded ecosystems and habitats are identified and rehabilitated through a landscape approach. The document refers to food security issues. In particular, one of the strategies and actions outlined under National Target 10 (by 2020, the potential impacts of climate change on vulnerable ecosystems are identified and adaptation measures strengthened) is to elevate understanding on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems. The National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan also aims at making agriculture more productive and sustainable. According to National Target 4, by 2020 all relevant stakeholders shall adopt the principles of sustainable production and consumption of natural resources and shall have kept the impacts of use of natural resources well within safe ecological limits. The aim of national target 7 is that areas under agriculture and forestry, including rangeland, are managed through the adoption of sustainable management practices, ensuring conservation of biological diversity.
National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan.