the “land of happiness” threatened by melting glaciers

ARTE.TV – ON DEMAND – REPORT Karma Toeb, Bhutanese glaciologist on Lake Thorthormi, on an image taken from the documentary “Bhutan: the green Himalayan kingdom”, by Antoine Védeilhé. KEYIPRODUCTION In the shadow of the Himalayan peaks, the inhabitants of the Lunana valley, in the north of the kingdom of Bhutan, know that their wooden houses would be swept away if the melting of the ice accelerated. The Thorthormi glacier, upstream, is melting rapidly, raising the level of the lake of the same name. Just below, another lake, smaller, is only separated from the first by a pile of rock and ice, which could also disappear, leaving the Thorthormi to flow over the valley. Read the story: Article reserved for our subscribers Bhutan dreams of building the first “mindful” city Read later “The question is not whether it will happen or not… It is certain that a huge amount water will flow into the valley. As in a tsunami, it would be the same scenario as in the ocean, with immense waves,” warns Karma Toeb, a Bhutanese glaciologist wrapped in a blue down jacket, in the report Bhutan: the green Himalayan kingdom. Bright light, snow-capped peaks, blue lakes, green valleys, the landscapes of Bhutan are enough to make you dream, surrounded by peaks reaching 7,500 meters. But the images reported by Antoine Védeilhé and Germain Baslé are as beautiful as they are worrying for the future of this small isolated state in the middle of the mountains and stuck between two giants, China, the world’s leading polluter, responsible for 30% of carbon emissions. CO₂, and India, third, with 7%. Respect for the environment taught at school The small kingdom of Bhutan, on the contrary, is one of three countries in the world to capture more CO₂ than it emits. As large as Switzerland, it owes this success to its thick forests, which cover 70% of the territory, and to its modest population, which reaches 786,300 inhabitants. But also to exclusively hydraulic electricity production. The dams are also subject to climate pressure: over the last two years, water resources have been declining, because the monsoon rains are later and less generous. A problem that is both environmental and economic, because Bhutan exports part of its electricity to India. But, during the dry season, on the contrary, the country is more and more often obliged to buy electricity produced by coal-fired power plants from its southern neighbor. Read the story (2011): Article reserved for our subscribers In the kingdom of “gross national happiness” Read later Like many developing countries, Bhutan is suffering the consequences of climate change, for which it is not responsible. This Arte report presents a State which places environmental protection at the center of its concerns. The kingdom watches over its forests, in particular by fighting against wild logging, and teaches respect for the environment at school, where each student takes care of a young tree during their schooling. The environment is also an element taken into account in the famous “gross national happiness” index put forward by the country’s leaders to create an alternative with the purely economic gross domestic product. Read the review: Article reserved for our subscribers The film “The Monk and the Gun” recalls the splendor and misery of the vote Read later The report also has the merit of presenting a little-known country, which voluntarily limits tourism by means of ‘a daily tax of 100 dollars. Behind the beauty and spirituality that emerges, the scenes filmed in a high school in the capital, Thimphu, where students seem to recite maxims learned by heart when they speak about the environment, give the impression that the democratization initiated in 2008 by this Buddhist kingdom is not yet anchored in local culture. Bhutan: the green Himalayan kingdom, by Antoine Védeilhé (Fr., 2024, 25 min). Available until November 13, 2027. Simon Leplâtre



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