Bhutan, Felicidad Nacional Bruta - Tshering Tobgay

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in case you're wondering no I'm not

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wearing a dress and no I'm not saying

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what I'm wearing underneath this is a

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call this is my national dress this is

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how all men dress in Bhutan that is how

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our women dress like our women we men

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get to wear pretty bright colors but

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unlike our women we get to show off our

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legs our national dress is unique but

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this is not the only thing that's unique

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about my country I promise to remain

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carbon-neutral is also unique and this

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is what I'd like to speak about today I

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promise to remain carbon neutral but

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before I proceed I should set you the

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context I should tell you our story

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Bhutan is a small country in the

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Himalayas we've been called shangri-la

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even the last shangri-la but let me tell

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you right off the bat we are not

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shangri-la my country is not one big

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monastery populated with happy monks the

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reality is that they are barely seven

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hundred thousand of us sandwiched

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between two of the most populated

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countries on earth

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China and India the reality is that we

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are a small underdeveloped country doing

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our best to survive but we're doing okay

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we are surviving in fact we are thriving

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and the reason we are thriving is

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because we've been blessed with

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extraordinary kings are enlightened

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monarchs have worked tirelessly to

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develop a country balancing economic

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growth

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carefully with Social Development

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environmental sustainability and

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cultural preservation all within the

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framework of good governance we call

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this holistic approach to development

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gross national happiness or GNH back in

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the 1970s

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our fourth king famously pronounced that

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for Bhutan gross national happiness is

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more important than gross national

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product ever since all development in

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Bhutan is driven by GNH a pioneering

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vision that aims to improve the

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happiness and well-being of our people

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but that's easier said than done

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especially when you are one of the

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smallest economies in the world I entire

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GDP is less than two billion dollars I

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know that some of you here are worse

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more individually than the entire

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economy of my country so I economy is

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small but here's where it gets

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interesting education is completely free

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all citizens are guaranteed free school

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education and those that work hard are

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given free college education health care

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is also completely free medical

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consultation medical treatment medicines

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they are all provided by the state we

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manage this because we use our limited

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resources very carefully and because we

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stay faithful to the core mission of GNH

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which is development with values our

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economy is small and we must strengthen

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it

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economic growth is important but that

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economic growth must not come from

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undermining a unique culture or our

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pristine environment today our culture

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is flourishing we continue to celebrate

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our art and architecture food and

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festivals monks and monasteries

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and yes we celebrate our national dress

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- this is why I can wear my cool with

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pride here's a fun fact you're looking

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at the world's biggest pocket it starts

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here goes around the back and comes out

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from inside here in this pocket we store

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all manner of personal goods from phones

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and wallets to iPads office files and

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books but sometimes sometimes even

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precious cargo

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so what culture is flourishing but so is

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our environment 72% of my countries on

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the forest cover our Constitution

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demands that a minimum of 60% of

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boudin's total land shall remain under

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forest cover for all time

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our Constitution this Constitution

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imposes for us Kevon us incidentally our

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King use this Constitution to impose

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democracy on us

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you see we the people didn't want

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democracy we didn't ask for it we didn't

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demand it and we certainly didn't fight

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for it instead our king imposed

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democracy on us by insisting that he

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included in the constitution but he went

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further he included provisions in the

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Constitution that empower the people to

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impeach the Kings and included

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provisions in here that require all our

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Kings to retire at the age of 65 fact is

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we already have a king in retirement a

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previous king the great force retired 10

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years ago at the peak of his popularity

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he was all of 51 years at that time so

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as I was saying 72% of our countries

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under forest cover and all that forest

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is pristine that's why we are one of the

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few remaining global biodiversity

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hotspots in the world and that's why we

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are a carbon neutral country in a world

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that is threatened with climate change

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we are a carbon neutral country turns

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out it's a big deal of the 200 odd

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countries in the world today it looks

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like we are the only one that's carbon

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neutral actually that's not quite

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accurate Bhutan is not carbon neutral

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Bhutan is carbon negative our entire

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country generates 2.2 million tons of

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carbon dioxide but a forest they

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sequester more than three times that

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amount so we are a net carbon sink for

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more than form

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million tonnes of carbon dioxide each

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year but that's not all we export most

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of the renewable electricity we generate

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from a fast flowing rivers so today

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the clean energy that we export offsets

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about six million tons of carbon dioxide

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in a neighborhood by 2020 we'll be

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exporting enough electricity to offset

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17 million tons of carbon dioxide and if

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we were to harness even half a

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hydropower potential and that's exactly

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what we are working at the clean green

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energy that we export would offset

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something like 50 million tons of carbon

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dioxide a year that is more co2 than

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what the entire city of New York

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generates in one year so inside our

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country we are a net carbon sink outside

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we are offsetting carbon and this is

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important stuff you see the world is

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getting warmer and climate change is a

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reality climate change is affecting my

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country our glaciers are melting causing

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flash floods and landslides which in

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turn are causing disaster and widespread

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destruction in our country I was at that

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Lake recently it's stunning that's how

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it looked

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ten years ago and that's how it looked

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twenty years ago just 20 years ago that

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Lake didn't exist it was a solid glacier

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a few years ago a similar lake breached

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his dams and wreak havoc and the valleys

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below that destruction was caused by one

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glacial lake we have 2,700 of them to

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contend with the point is this my

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country and my people have done nothing

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to contribute to global warming but we

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are already bearing the brunt of its

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consequences

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and for a small poor country one that is

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landlocked and mountainous it is very

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difficult but we are not going to sit on

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their hands doing nothing

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we will fight climate change that's why

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we have promised to remain carbon

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neutral we first made this promise in

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2009 during cop15 in Copenhagen but

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nobody noticed government's was so busy

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arguing with one another and blaming

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each other for causing climate change

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that when a small country raised our

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hands and announced we promised to

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remain carbon neutral for all time

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nobody heard us nobody cared last

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December in Paris at cop21 we reiterated

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our promise to remain carbon neutral for

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all time to come

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this time we were heard we were noticed

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and everybody cared what was different

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in Paris was that governments came

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around together to accept the realities

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of climate change and were willing to

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come together and act together and work

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together all countries from the very

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small to the very large committed to

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reduce the greenhouse gases emissions

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the UN Framework Convention for climate

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change says that if these so-called

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intended commitments are kept

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we'd be closer to containing global

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warming by 2 degrees Celsius by the way

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I've requested the TED organizers here

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to turn up the heat in here by 2 degrees

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so if some of you are feeling warmer

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than usual you know how to blame it's

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crucial that all of us keep our

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commitments as far as Bhutan is

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concerned we will keep our promise to

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remain carbon neutral here are some of

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the ways we are doing it we're providing

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free

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city to a rural farmers the idea is that

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with free electricity they will no

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longer have to use firewood to cook

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their food we are investing in

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sustainable transport and subsidizing

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the purchase of electric vehicles

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similarly we are subsidizing the cost of

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LED lights and our entire government is

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trying to go paperless we are cleaning

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up our entire country through clean

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Bhutan a national program and we are

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planting trees throughout our country

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through green Bhutan another national

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program but it is our protected areas

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that are at the core of a carbon neutral

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strategy our protected areas are a

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carbon sink they are our lungs today

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more than half our country is protected

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as national parks nature reserves and

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wildlife sanctuaries but the beauty is

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that we've connected them all with one

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another through a network of biological

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corridors now what this means is that

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our animals are free to roam throughout

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our country take this Tiger for example

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it was spotted at 250 metres above sea

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level in the hot subtropical jungles two

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years later that same tiger was spotted

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near 4000 metres in a cold Alpine

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mountains

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isn't that awesome we must keep it that

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way

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we must keep our parks awesome so every

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year we set aside resources to prevent

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poaching hunting mining and pollution in

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the parks and resources to help

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communities who live in those parks

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manage their forests adapt to climate

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change and lead better lives while

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continuing to live in harmony with

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Mother Nature but that is expensive over

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the next few years our small economy

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won't have the resources

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to cover all the costs that are required

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to protect our environment in fact when

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we run the numbers it looks like it'll

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take us at least 15 years before we can

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fully finance all our conservation

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efforts but neither Bhutan nor the world

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can afford to spend 15 years going

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backwards this is why His Majesty the

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King started Bhutan for life Bhutan for

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life gives us the time we need it gives

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us breathing room it is essentially a

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funding mechanism to look after our

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parks to protect our parks till our

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government can take over on our own

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fully the idea is to raise a transition

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fund from individual donors cooperations

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and institutions but the deal is closed

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only after predetermined conditions are

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met and all funds committed so

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multi-party single closing an idea we

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borrowed from Wall Street

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this means that individual donors can

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commit without having to worry that

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they'll be left supporting an

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underfunded plan it's something like a

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Kickstarter project only with a 15 year

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time horizon and millions of tons of

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carbon dioxide at stake once the deal is

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closed we use the transition fund to

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protect a parks giving our government

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time to increase our own funding

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gradually till the end of the 15 year

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period after that our government

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guarantees full funding forever

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we almost there we expect to close later

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this year

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naturally I'm pretty excited

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the World Wildlife Fund is our principal

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partner in this journey and I want to

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give them a big shout out for the

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excellent work they're doing in Bhutan

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and across the world it is getting warm

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in here

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I thank you for listening to a story a

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story of how we are keeping a promise to

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remain carbon neutral a story of how we

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are keeping our country pristine for

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ourselves our children for your children

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and for the world but we are not here to

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tell stories are we we are here to dream

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together so in closing I'd like to share

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one more dream that I have what if you

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could mobilize our leadership and our

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resources our influence and our passion

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to replicate the Bhutan for Life idea to

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other countries so that they too can

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conserve the protected areas for all

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time after all there are many other

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countries who face the same issues that

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we face they do have natural resources

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that can help win the world's fight for

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sustainability only they may not have

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the ability to invest in them now so

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what if we set up earth for life a

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global fund to pick start the Bhutan for

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life throughout the world I invite you

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to help me to carry this dream beyond

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the borders to all those who care about

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a planet's future after all we're here

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to dream together to work together to

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fight climate change together to protect

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our planet together because the reality

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is we are not together

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some of us might dress differently but

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we enter together

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thank you very much and Russia's Allah

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thank you thank you thank you

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you