The PLEASE project and the UNDP Bhutan collaboratively support the Government of Bhutan for the “Development of a Nationwide GIS mapping of waste facilities, Data collection of waste streams, plastic waste and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from waste sectors.” Under this technical assignment, a five-day National Stakeholder Consultation and capacity building programme was organized on 1-5 September in Paro, Bhutan.
Nearly 60 participants from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MoENR), Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC), Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MOIT), National Statistics Bureau (NSB), District Administrators, Environmental engineers and officers from Municipalities, NGOs/CSOs, and private sector including 5 PLEASE Grantee representatives from Bhutan Ecological Society (BES) and implementing partner Gross International nature (GIN), Greenerway, Green Roads, Clean Bhutan and Eco Waste Solutions also attended the stakeholder consultations.
The consultation was organized to review the following;
These reports, especially the plastic waste management infrastructure mapping includes the Material Recovery Facilities and Plastic Recycling Facilities develop under the PLEASE project. The PLEASE grantees actively participated and gave feedback on these reports. On the last day of the event, they shared the experience of public private partnership and business modes on plastic waste management.
The collaboration with UNDP Bhutan and close coordination with the DECC, allowed the PLEASE project to expand its original scope of technical assistance, which was focused only on generating statistics on plastic waste. Now it has been expanded to a full-fledged assessment of the solid and plastic waste sector, a masterplan to manage plastic waste, as well as mitigate GHG emissions projected from the solid waste sector. The expanded scope of Technical Assistance (TA) contributes to supporting the MOENR Bhutan in updating Bhutan’s NDC 3.0, by conducting GHG emissions assessments in the waste sector up to 2050, as well as updating National Waste Inventory Survey Report 2019.
Ms. Prakriti Kashyap, representing SACEP PLEASE Project Implementation Unit, in her closing speech thanked UNDP Bhutan, MOENR, DECC, MOIT, NSB, and PLEASE Grantees for collaboration and setting an example of how different organizations can synergize and create bigger impact, than duplicating or fragmenting the work, while creating a sense of collective ownership of the work.
Together, we’re taking a significant step towards a clean, green, sustainable future for Bhutan!
L-R: Representatives of MOIT, JICA Consultants at MOIT, SACEP PLEASE PIU, UNDP Bhutan, and DECC