Faced with increasing river surges and the rising threat of seeing a small village, a strategic road and sacred shrine being washed away, the community in Bhumtang Valley decided to invest in river embankments, using Performance-Based Climate Resilience Grants developed as part of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility. Thanks to this small adaptation investment, over three rural farming communities have realised transformative results and reliable access to markets for selling their produce. It's a strong step towards building community resilience, but more funds are needed if such results are to be scaled nation-wide.

Bhumtang Valley is surrounded by pine forests, and unlike most places Bhutan, the hills are not so steep, as if the mountain had decided to take a rest here. The houses are made of pine-wood and their chalet appearance further completes the Swiss-like atmosphere.

The District of Tang, which means 'valley', is just an hour’s drive from the main town of Bhumtang in Central Bhutan. Thekcho Dorji is the newly appointed Tshogpa, or elected village representative. Young and from a nearby village, Mr Dorji has personally endured all the issues faced by the local communities and he is now trying to tackle them as the new village representative.

“I am from Kibu a village just a bit further away. The road is very useful to the people here because we are farmers - the road connects us to another two communities upstream with about 150 households.”

The road is lodged between the edge of the forest and a river. The river is wide with strong currents. In recent years, river surges flooded the fields and threatening to wash away the road - upon which the community depends - as well as an important sacred place and eight homes. Following community consultations, a grant from LoCAL is being used to tame the river with the construction of an embankment.

Mr Rinzen, a farmer tending his cows in a field between the road and the river explains: “Without the embankment, the river would come through and damage the sacred place, the village and the road. Without the road three Chiwogs (communities) would be cut off. Farmers need the road to access markets - we grow potatoes, barley, wheat and we also harvest black mushrooms.”

Mr Rinzen has lost land to flood before. He doesn't want to lose more - it's where he brings his precious cattle to forage.

“The fortification is already very useful as the most affected fields are now safe from floods but the embankment only partially covers the needs - to fully protect these areas, the embankment needs to be expanded on both sides otherwise the river could still come in from above,” said Mr Rinzen.

Mr Dorji, the village representative, agrees that there is more work to be done.

“With the funds available our priority was to ensure access with this rural road - this why the river embankment was the foremost importance. But we need to extend it and we also need another one further upstream. We also need bridges and in many villages we really need safe [drinking] water. It is very hard at times for people to have water - they need to go and fetch it time and time again. They use buckets. It takes a lot of energy,” said Mr Dorji.

In the capital Thimphu, Ms Tandin Wangmo, Chief Planning Officer at the Local Government Division Department of Planning, Budget and Performance in the Ministry of Finance echoes these concerns:

"LoCAL has been extremely useful so far to mainstream climate change adaptation in local planning systems - but to bring our efforts to scale across the country, we need much more budget. LDCs [Least Developed Countries] need billions not millions."

The world's 46 LDCs are among the most affected by increasingly devastating climate impacts. Far from policy decision-makers and climate conferences, communities in these countries are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. For rural communities such as in Bhumtang Valley, adaptation investments like the river embankment provide the lifeline that keeps farmers afloat and communities out of poverty.

The former Chair of the LDC Group to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the current Head of the National Environment Commission, H.E. Sonam Wangdi stresses the urgent need to access funds required to scale meaningful adaptation efforts, coupled with the urgency to respond to increasing climate impacts.

“We have scaled up in terms of geographical coverage - but that’s not enough. In each area there is a need for more resources, for more funds. The need is one of the hour. We need it today and if we keep it for tomorrow it will be too late. We need to invest! The funds that [LoCAL is] making available…it is an investment. in our planet in our sustainability, in our future.”

Bhutan is the only landlocked carbon negative country in the world. It is also one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Mr Wangdi, who has been a vocal supporter of a Loss and Damage Fund and as one of the breakthrough agreements at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, warns that any delay for compensations for loss and damages comes at an exponential cost for everyone on the planet.

“We need to ensure that the committed funds are available; this hundred billions and more…that needs to come. I think the time for excuses is over because we are in it together - we are going to suffer it together and the most vulnerable countries and communities suffer the most,” said Mr Wangdi.

In 2009, industrialised nations promised to deliver US$ 100 bn a year from 2020 onwards for spending on adaptation to climate change and mitigate further temperature rises. To date that commitment has not been kept and countries like Bhutan see the consequences of that funding shortfall every day.

The LoCAL mechanism bridges this finance gap. With the support of the European Union and its member states, LoCAL and its implementing countries have developed a standard and internationally recognized mechanism to channel funds to local governments for locally led adaptation to climate change.

Bhutan was one of the first countries to pilot the Performance Based Climate Resilience Grants that are at the heart of the LoCAL approach, which was designed by the UN Capital Development Fund.

The first LoCAL grants were rolled out in the 2011 budget cycle and the country is currently in phase three with a national-wide roll-out. Thanks to continued budget support from the EU, LoCAL has already reached out to 100 local governments and implemented over 350 adaptation investments.

For Tshering Penjor, UNCDF-LoCAL Coordinator in Bhutan, much of this success comes from capacity building and LoCAL's participatory processes that address the most pressing needs of the communities.

“The investments were made in the priority areas where the local government and the communities felt they were most needed," said Mr Penjor. "So in terms of the investments’ sustainability, there is strong local ownership...Many of the local governments are now aware of the climate change impacts and they can really now mainstream those climate change related issues when they formulate their developmental plans and programmes at the local level.”

With demonstrable success has come increased demand for funds as communities want to double-down on their achievements or expand to new regions. This is particularly the case in Bhutan and Cambodia, the forerunners of LoCAL with a strong track record of results.

“Of all the challenges, I think lack of climate funding is still an issue because while these communities are aware of the climate change impacts, including the local functionaries, and while they know where they should be investing in terms of addressing and overcoming these climate issues, the lack of resources is a main barrier for them," said Mr Penjor. "Even if they have certain allocations, the budgets size is so small that that they are not able to really come up with the appropriate interventions that would fully enhance the resilience of the community.”

Such is the level of country commitment, Mr Penjor believes that the Government of Bhutan will increasingly use its own limited resources to fund the LoCAL approach.

“With the integration of LoCAL into the national system, the government is now planning to set aside some common resources to be allocated based on this performance grant itself – it is the one key lessons that we should take forward in the coming days because there will be resources even from the government to really scale up the performance based system,” he added.

A note on local governments in Bhutan:
Each gewog is administered by a Gewog Tshogde (gewog council), subordinate to the Dzongkhag Tshogdu (district council). The Gewog Tshogde is composed of a Gup (headman), Mangmi (deputy), and between five and eight democratically elected Tshogpas from among villages or village groups.

Find out more about LoCAL here

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