SFS BHUTAN: HIMALAYAN ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY IN TRANSITION
(SEMESTER)
PROGRAM DETAILS
Terms | Fall, Spring
Credits | 18 semester-hour credits
Prerequisites | One semester of college-level ecology, biology, or environmental studies/science | 2.7 GPA | 18 years of age
Application Deadline | Fall: May 1st. Spring: November 1st. Early applications encouraged!
OVERVIEW
Students work in high valleys where altitude shapes both ecology and culture, with prayer flags and cypress forests framing daily field studies. From alpine meadows to glacial rivers, students cross high passes with plant presses in hand, surveying biodiversity while tracing how hydropower, climate change, and rural land pressures test Bhutan’s conservation ideals. Here, Gross National Happiness makes stewardship a national mandate, but modern development forces new compromises. Students engage with monastic communities where cultural practices inform approaches to land and forest stewardship, and the landscapes themselves serve as living texts for understanding conservation. Field notes become evidence, evidence sparks dialogue, and dialogue helps bridge scientific findings with community choices on forests, grazing, and rivers.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
→ Trek Chelela ridges, record DBH, canopy cover, and species counts along altitudinal transects to model forest shifts.
→ Analyze Punakha land use with ArcGIS, ground-truthing watershed health against on-site biodiversity indices.
→ Hold interviews with monks and community leaders near Tiger’s Nest, exploring ties between Buddhist ritual and conservation ethics, then code emerging themes.
→ Facilitate community dialogues on balancing Bhutan’s carbon-negative policies with pastoral and agricultural livelihoods.
→ Conduct Directed Research: frame a stakeholder-driven question, collect and analyze field data with faculty guidance, and present actionable findings to local partners.
LOCATION
SFS students live and study at the Center for Himalayan Environment and Development Studies. The Center is located at one end of the stunning Paro Valley, at the base of a towering ridgeline dotted with Buddhist monasteries. The campus is a small cluster of buildings designed in the traditional Bhutanese architecture. A pleasant 15-minute walk brings you to Paro Town's markets, shops, and cultural events.
RESEARCH THEMES
- Mountain and Forest Ecology and Conservation
- Climate change
- Geology and Hydrology of Mountain Regions
- Environmental Governance
- Gross National Happiness and Influence of Buddhist Philosophy on Conservation
- Forest and Natural Resource Management
- Urban Migration and Development
- Agriculture and Food Security
CORE SKILLS
- GIS and Mapping
- Species Identification and Distribution Mapping
- Forest and Biodiversity Surveys
- Camera Trapping and Mist-Netting
- Protected Areas Assessment
- Research Design and Implementation
- Data Collection and Analysis
- Research Presentation
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