Bionomics in the Dragon Kingdom: Ecology, Economics and Ethics in Bhutan

✍ Scribed by Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 183
• Series: Fascinating Life Sciences
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This compact and elegant work (equally fitting for both academic as well as the trade audiences) provides a readily accessible and highly readable overview of Bhutan’s unique opportunities and challenges; all her prominent environmental legislation, regulatory statutes, ecological customs and practices, both in historic and contemporary terms. At the same time, Bionomics places the ecological context, including a section on animal rights in Bhutan, within the nation’s Buddhist spiritual and ethical setting. Historic contextualization accents the book’s rich accounting of every national park and scientific reserve, as well as providing up-to-the-minute climate-change related hurdles for the country.
Merging the interdisciplinary sciences, engineering and humanities data in a compelling up-to-date portrait of the country, the authors have presented this dramatic compendium against the backdrop of an urgent, global ecological time-frame. It thus becomes clear that the articulated stakes for Bhutan, like her neighboring Himalayan and Indian sub-continental countries (China, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar) are immense, as the Anthropocene epoch unfolds, affecting every living being across the planet. Because Bhutan’s two most rewarding revenue streams derive from the sale of hydro-electric power and from tourism, the complexities of modern pressures facing a nation that prides herself on maintaining traditional customs in what has been a uniquely isolated nation are acute.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter ....Pages i-xxiv
Environment Matters: Himalayan Happiness (Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias)....Pages 1-15
National Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife Sanctuaries (Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias)....Pages 17-63
Bhutanese Bioculturalism and Sustainability (Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias)....Pages 65-92
The Anthropocene in Bhutan (Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias)....Pages 93-118
Water Towers and Mountains in the Dragon Kingdom (Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias)....Pages 119-134
Pragmatic Conscience: Ecological Governance in Shangri-La (Ugyen Tshewang, Jane Gray Morrison, Michael Charles Tobias)....Pages 135-160
Back Matter ....Pages 161-162

✦ Subjects

Life Sciences; Conservation Biology/Ecology; Popular Life Sciences; Popular Science in Nature and Environment; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Animal Welfare/Animal Ethics; Environmental Philosophy