To celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June, we, the Bhutan Australia Alumni Association (BAAA), recently organized a tree planting drive aligned with this year’s theme of ‘land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience’.
Over 25 volunteers, including alumni, civil servants, media personnel, and private individuals, joined us to plant 250 oak tree saplings at Samarzingkha, Thimphu. It was an honor to have Dasho Tashi Pem, Chairperson of the Royal Civil Service Commission and an Australia Awards alumna herself, attend the event. She announced our commitment to making tree planting an annual tradition on World Environment Day in the future.
As a passionate environmentalist who previously served as the Director General of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, I congratulated our association on this initiative. I also applauded the participants’ volunteer spirit, emphasizing the importance of collective efforts in environmental conservation, a national priority of Bhutan. Additionally, I highlighted Australia’s valuable support to Bhutan in human capacity development and leadership through Australia Awards alumni. The Royal Civil Service Commission pledged its support for future similar initiatives.
During this event, we partnered with the Bhutan Ecological Society to procure the tree saplings and successfully fundraised approximately BTN 90,000 (AUD 1,667) for the tree planting drive.
As an additional initiative for World Environment Day, we’ve launched a paper recycling drive that will run until the end of June 2024.
