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.
