Its per capita GDP is 13 times higher and unemployment is a mere 4 %. At the
same time Bhutan has managed to increase the area under forest cover from 50 % in
the 1970s to 80 % and inserted into its constitution a clause that this must not fall
below 60 %. The total of its protected nature areas amounts to 50 % of the surface
of the country and the ecological footprint of each Bhutanese is 0.8 ha, well below
the world average of 2 ha. It has pledged to keep its development climate neutral
and hydro-power is supposed to be the prime energy source by 2020, even allowing
for exports that would reduce Bhutan’s still significant dependence on official
development aid.
All is not rosy in Bhutan, however. In the 2010 GNH survey only 41 % of
people passed the sufficiency threshold for happiness as defined by the government,
which included only 37 % of those living in rural areas. Climate change is
threatening hydro-power plans and floods risk damaging the main towns as most of
them sit at the bottom of a long valley in the Himalayan mountains. Urbanization
and the lack of jobs for educated young people wishing to work in offices leads to
problems and a lot of migrant workers from India doing the hard physical work.
The media and tourism-based exposure to the mainstream global culture of consumerism seems to increase tensions. Young people who have studied abroad are
also more critical of the lack of entrepreneurial spirit and availability of goods.
This is one of the core reasons why the promotion of GNH values and ideas in
educational institutions has become a strategic goal. All teachers have been given
training in green ideals, which involve ecology as well as intellectual, academic,
social, cultural, spiritual, aesthetic, and moral values (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2013,
61–83). All schools have meditation on their curricula, even if only for a minute for
small children. Bhutan’s 2013 report to the UN, Happiness: Towards a New
Development Paradigm, makes reference to well-being and neuroscience study
results on the positive effects of regular mindfulness practice on health and quality
of life and also social relationships and productivity (NDP Steering Committee and
Secretariat 2013: 35).
In the report, Bhutan also freely admits that “as with any new attempt at multidimensional social assessment,” there are still a number of technical and
methodological challenges in GNH implementation, both the measurement, (interpretation of its mathematical formula, questions about correlations between
results when comparing regions and groups, robustness of data on the small scale
and the wording of particular questions) and the communication of policy-relevant
results and their translation into concrete political measures (NDP Steering
Committee and Secretariat 2013: 31).
However, the GNH data confirms many of the well-being studies referred to in
Chap. 3. Happiness is high when people live in conditions providing safe areas
where they trust their neighbors, have ample economic security to provide the
necessities of life to their families, health, clean air to breathe, safe water to drink,
green spaces for recreation, healthy natural resources to provide the necessities of
life, knowledge rather than ignorance, strong social networks and a sense of
belonging to a culture and community (NDP Steering Committee and Secretariat
2013: 33). In addition to these objective conditions great emphasis is put on the
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4 Mapping an Emerging New Economic Paradigm in Practice
same time Bhutan has managed to increase the area under forest cover from 50 % in
the 1970s to 80 % and inserted into its constitution a clause that this must not fall
below 60 %. The total of its protected nature areas amounts to 50 % of the surface
of the country and the ecological footprint of each Bhutanese is 0.8 ha, well below
the world average of 2 ha. It has pledged to keep its development climate neutral
and hydro-power is supposed to be the prime energy source by 2020, even allowing
for exports that would reduce Bhutan’s still significant dependence on official
development aid.
All is not rosy in Bhutan, however. In the 2010 GNH survey only 41 % of
people passed the sufficiency threshold for happiness as defined by the government,
which included only 37 % of those living in rural areas. Climate change is
threatening hydro-power plans and floods risk damaging the main towns as most of
them sit at the bottom of a long valley in the Himalayan mountains. Urbanization
and the lack of jobs for educated young people wishing to work in offices leads to
problems and a lot of migrant workers from India doing the hard physical work.
The media and tourism-based exposure to the mainstream global culture of consumerism seems to increase tensions. Young people who have studied abroad are
also more critical of the lack of entrepreneurial spirit and availability of goods.
This is one of the core reasons why the promotion of GNH values and ideas in
educational institutions has become a strategic goal. All teachers have been given
training in green ideals, which involve ecology as well as intellectual, academic,
social, cultural, spiritual, aesthetic, and moral values (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2013,
61–83). All schools have meditation on their curricula, even if only for a minute for
small children. Bhutan’s 2013 report to the UN, Happiness: Towards a New
Development Paradigm, makes reference to well-being and neuroscience study
results on the positive effects of regular mindfulness practice on health and quality
of life and also social relationships and productivity (NDP Steering Committee and
Secretariat 2013: 35).
In the report, Bhutan also freely admits that “as with any new attempt at multidimensional social assessment,” there are still a number of technical and
methodological challenges in GNH implementation, both the measurement, (interpretation of its mathematical formula, questions about correlations between
results when comparing regions and groups, robustness of data on the small scale
and the wording of particular questions) and the communication of policy-relevant
results and their translation into concrete political measures (NDP Steering
Committee and Secretariat 2013: 31).
However, the GNH data confirms many of the well-being studies referred to in
Chap. 3. Happiness is high when people live in conditions providing safe areas
where they trust their neighbors, have ample economic security to provide the
necessities of life to their families, health, clean air to breathe, safe water to drink,
green spaces for recreation, healthy natural resources to provide the necessities of
life, knowledge rather than ignorance, strong social networks and a sense of
belonging to a culture and community (NDP Steering Committee and Secretariat
2013: 33). In addition to these objective conditions great emphasis is put on the
136
4 Mapping an Emerging New Economic Paradigm in Practice