Social Issues + Environment + Bhutan

 🌳 1. Rural-Urban Migration & Waste Management

 • Issue: As more people move to towns like Thimphu and Phuentsholing for jobs and education, urban areas face increased waste and pollution.

 • Social impact: Overcrowded housing, job competition, and rising living costs.

 • Environmental impact: Overflowing landfills, plastic pollution, and pressure on urban resources like water and electricity.

🏞️ 2. Human-Wildlife Conflict

 • Issue: Farmers often lose crops and livestock to wild animals like elephants, boars, or leopards.

 • Social impact: Economic loss and emotional stress for rural families.

 • Environmental link: As forests shrink or change due to development, animals enter villages in search of food.

🛤️ 3. Development Projects vs Environmental Protection

 • Issue: Projects like hydropower dams, roads, and tourism infrastructure can harm ecosystems.

 • Social impact: Some communities are displaced, lose access to natural resources, or face cultural change.

 • Environmental impact: Deforestation, landslides, habitat loss, and river disruption.

🔥 4. Forest Fires and Traditional Practices

 • Issue: Some fires are caused by agricultural burning or carelessness.

 • Social impact: Threat to homes, schools, and livelihoods.

 • Environmental impact: Loss of biodiversity and carbon release into the atmosphere.

🧑‍🌾 5. Climate Change and Youth Engagement

 • Issue: Bhutan faces changing weather patterns (e.g., glacial melt, unpredictable rain).

 • Social impact: Young people are starting to speak up, but many feel unheard.

 • Environmental impact: Risk to food security, water sources, and natural disasters.

🚧 6. Mining and Quarrying in Rural Areas

 • Issue: Mining activities for cement and construction materials damage landscapes.

 • Social impact: Community health concerns, land disputes, and inequality.

 • Environmental impact: Dust, noise pollution, river sedimentation, and destruction of sacred or agricultural lands.

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