Why Bhutan.

Nestled in the heart of the majestic Himalayas and as one of the most naturally beautiful regions on Earth, the Kingdom of Bhutan is a unique country. The nation’s focus on GNH (‘Gross National Happiness’) rather than GDP alone as a measure of its development, is now well known.

Small in size, and with only around one million citizens, Bhutan is nevertheless one of the most sustainability-focused countries in the world. Just one example of this is its national constitution, which states at least 60% of the country must remain forested ‘in perpetuity’ - just to give you a comparison, the US is around 34% forested whilst the UK only around 12%.

“But Bhutan’s only a small country with a small population we hear you say”, and you’d be right - but with around 80% currently under forest cover, the country is already achieving its ambitious goals. After all, great oaks grow from tiny acorns, so we hope Bhutan will be an example on forestation that the rest of the world can follow!

More than 50% of the country is also environmentally protected as national park & wilderness areas, with Bhutan committing at the 2010 Copenhagen Summit to forever remain a ‘net carbon sink’. Bhutan has committed to its agricultural production being 100% organic and in line with its Gross National Happiness plan, aims to protect both the sustainable production of its resources as well as the livelihoods of the people of the nation. 

So why Bhutan? Well, in short, we feel that they’re leading the way in creating a truly sustainable economy, for its people and its resources, and we’re proud to be part of that in some small way.

You can find out everything you need to know on Bhutan around the web, but we’ve put together a few highlights ourselves here anyway…