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General protection of environment
Bhutan is one
of the rarest countries where it has been found that the forest cover is
increasing over the years. Through special conservation programmes,
forest and wild life are protected. There are special pockets in the country
that are demarcated as conservation sanctuaries for wild life. Re-plantation
is carried out on the slopes that are denuded from landslides and forest
fires. Some special areas are marked and protected for growing medicinal
herbs for the country's traditional system of medicine.
With
growth of urban areas and industries, the problem of urban and industrial
waste is coming up. Programmes for such waste
disposal have been initiated in the major settlements and industrial areas.
Initiatives have been taken to develop guidelines for prevention of
occupational hazards in work areas.
Water supply and sanitation
Both
rural and urban water supply and sanitation has been treated as one of the
country's central development themes by all the Five-Year Plan documents
since the 7th Plan. Today the coverage has reached up to 80% as shown in the
following figure.
Source: Annual Health Bulletin, 1994 -
1999, and National Health Survey 2000, both Ministry of Health and Education,
Royal Government of Bhutan.
During
the same decade, as a result of the 1992 Royal Decree, rural household
sanitation coverage in terms of latrines has accelerated considerably. The
Decree mandated that every household should maintain a latrine.
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