Australia Awards South and West Asia

To celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June, the Bhutan Australia Alumni Association (BAAA) recently organised a tree planting drive in line with this year’s theme of ‘land restoration, desertification and drought resilience’.

More than 25 volunteers, including alumni, civil servants, media personnel and private individuals came together to plant 250 oak tree saplings at Samarzingkha, Thimphu. The Chairperson of the Royal Civil Service Commission, Dasho Tashi Pem, who is an Australia Awards alumna herself, attended the event and announced BAAA’s commitment to make tree planting an annual event on World Environment Day in future.

The Chairperson of the Royal Civil Service Commission, Dasho Tashi Pem, assists to plant a sapling.

As a passionate environmentalist who had previously served as the Director General of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the Chairperson congratulated the BAAA on their initiative and applauded the participants’ spirit of volunteerism. She said that it is heartening to see collective efforts towards environmental conservation, which is also one of the national priorities of Bhutan. Additionally, she highlighted the significance of Australia’s assistance to Bhutan in the areas of human capacity development and strengthening leadership among Australia Awards alumni. The Chairperson pledged the support of the Royal Civil Service Commission for similar initiatives in the future.

On this occasion, the alumni partnered with the Bhutan Ecological Society to source the tree saplings. In addition, the alumni group was able to fundraise approximately BTN 90,000 (AUD 1,667) for the tree planting drive.

As an additional World Environment Day initiative, the BAAA has also initiated a paper recycling drive until the end of June 2024.