Bhutan, located in the eastern Himalayas, is part of one of the
top ten biodiversity hotspots of the world. The eastern Himalayas
provide various ecosystem services such as clean water, climate
regulation, soil stabilization, biodiversity and others, to millions of
people who are living within and beyond the region. Biodiversity
and water services are viewed as the engine of economic growth
and a prerequisite for sustainable economic development, sound
environment and social well-being. These resources including
land are extremely vulnerable to changing climate and are already
under immense pressure due to growing population and economic
activities. In this context, to enhance the local resilience against
environmental, climate and economic stresses, ?watershed? was
used as the priority area. Bhutan selected Gamri watershed in
Trashigang Dzongkhag as the site for the implementation of the
Community Development and Knowledge Management for the
Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS).
Gamri watershed in eastern Bhutan (27° 13 ? 49 ? ?N to 27° 29 ? 17
? ?N, 91° 33 ? 15 ? ?E to 92° 01 ?41 ? ?E) with an area of 745 km2, covers
eight Gewogs of Trashigang Dzongkhag - Sakteng, Merak,
Phongmey, Shongphu, Bidung, Bartsham, Radhi and Samkhar.
Gamri River is formed by over 19 tributaries originating from the
above eight Gewogs, and is one of the main tributaries of Drangme
Chhu which drains into Brahmaputra river in India. The main reason
to consider this watershed for implementation of pilot landscape
project of COMDEKS is due to its rich biological resources,
growing pressures on the landscape from overgrazing, extraction
of natural resources for fodder and fuel wood, recurrent landslides
and drying of water sources. The landscape has been divided into
three zones, namely, Zone I ? Upstream, Zone II - Midstream, and
Zone III - Downstream, based on the physical, ecological and social
characteristics of the region.
Twelve community-based and community-led projects on sustainable
agriculture and rangeland land management, agro-biodiversity
conservation, natural resources management, livelihood
enhancement and knowledge management, and capacity building
were implemented in the watershed.

The Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes
and Seascapes (SEPLS) were used to conduct the comparative
analysis of ex-ante and ex-post assessments. Among the
indicators, highest impact was observed in ecosystem protection
followed by agriculture biodiversity; social equity and infrastructure;
and knowledge, learning and innovation.
COMDEKS has shown that community-led and community-based
management of projects can fetch better outcomes in relative to
projects implemented in isolation. Although it is too early to predict
long-term outcomes of the project, the communities are benefiting
and the successful results on the ground indicate community-led
projects as one of the best approaches to enhance socio-ecological
production landscape resilience. This would ultimately lead
towards the realization of the vision of Satoyama Initiative: ?societies
in harmony with nature?.

.....
Project "ex-post Landscape-wide Baseline Assessment for the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) projects in Bhutan - ?Restoring and Managing Landscape in Gamri Watershed, Trashigang?" was awarded to a local academic institution called College of Natural Resources, Punakha, Bhutan.

The main objective of the project is measure and illustrate the results and impacts brought to people and environment in Gamri watershed by SGP/COMDEKS project Restoring and Managing Landscape in Gamri Watershed, Trashigang?.