Musk deer could go extinct if poaching continues at the current rate, according to officials from Wangchuck centennial national park (WCNP) and Thrumshingla national park (TNP) in Bhutan. Read more in November 2014 edition of the Monthly Overview on State of Environment, Bhutan.

LAND, AGRICULTURE, GRAZING LANDS AND ANIMAL CARE
In a bid to commercialise maize production, Phuentsholing gewog officials in Bhutan, organised a meeting between 50 villagers and animal feeds manufacturer Karma Feeds and informed the  villagers that, if they are willing to mass-produce maize, Karma Feeds would be ready to buy their harvest. This year, the farmers of more than 51 households of Nimshong, Thajong and Zangling villages in Bhutan, do not have anything to harvest from their paddy fields, as a dried irrigation water source and late rainfall forced them to leave their fields fallow. Business opportunity and information centre (BOiC) in Bhutan,  approved a dairy farm project worth Nu 1.35m from Chokhortoe, Bumthang.

DAMS
Hydropower projects in the region, including those in Bhutan are not run-of-the-river schemes and cannot be certified as clean development mechanism (CDM) projects.  A group of environmentalists from a non-profit organisation, International Rivers, India, with decades of experience in environmental governance, conveyed this during a knowledge-sharing workshop on hydropower this week. If what transpired at the E3 international conference is any indication, the  Bhutan government and private sector have to sit down and sort out some pertinent issues on the hydropower sector. Some private sector heavyweights at the conference in Thimphu during these three days said the private sector had not at all benefitted, despite the aggressive drive to develop hydropower in the country.

WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
In Bhutan, a month more and residents of Semtokha, Lungtenphu, Changbangdu and Babesa local area plan (LAP) of Thim throm will have treated water supply round the clock. The much awaited water treatment plant at Megaypang, about five kilometres up from Chamgang is ready to supply water.

HEALTH AND OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS
To prevent further outbreaks of peripheral neuropathy in schools, Bhutan  Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has instructed all students across the country be immediately put on a month long vitamin B complex supplement.

LIVING RESOURCES
Musk deer could go extinct if poaching continues at the current rate, according to officials from Wangchuck centennial national park (WCNP) and Thrumshingla national park (TNP) in Bhutan. WCNP officials on October 28 nabbed poachers from Garpang in Bumthang.  The National Geographic magazine, together with the Ugyen Wangchuck institute of conservation and environment in Bumthang, is planning a major coverage on Bhutan’s wildlife and its conservation efforts.