IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/phajad/200290.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Participatory Framework to Identify Gross National Happiness Issues for the Development of Smallholder Mixed Farming Systems in Bhutan

Author

Listed:
  • Samdup, Tashi
  • Udo, Henk M.J.
  • van der Zijpp, Akke J.

Abstract

This paper presents a participatory methodological framework to identify Gross National Happiness (GNH) issues at the smallholder level in Bhutan. GNH is a development paradigm of Bhutan that has increasingly drawn international attention. Its four pillars are sustainable and equitable socioeconomic development, preservation of the environment, preservation and promotion of culture, and promotion of good governance. Since GNH is usually discussed at the national level, its domains and indicators have been defined through a top-down intellectual exercise, with possibly limited relevance of the major issues for most rural Bhutanese, which represent 69 percent of the country’s population. The methodology applied in this study was useful in identifying key GNH issues from a systems perspective at the smallholder level. Socioeconomic development and the environmental aspects were found to be the pertinent issues. The study also revealed trade-offs and dependencies among the four GNH pillars and their indicators. Inclusive policies are needed to address the concerns of smallholder farmers. If GNH is to work for the present and future generations, then it is essential to embrace the GNH issues of smallholder farmers who compose the backbone of the Bhutanese population. Further, the GNH concept is currently a mix of issues and indicators. Translating the issues identified by the study into indicators is required to properly evaluate the progress at the farm level and to support GNH policy development.

Suggested Citation

  • Samdup, Tashi & Udo, Henk M.J. & van der Zijpp, Akke J., 2014. "A Participatory Framework to Identify Gross National Happiness Issues for the Development of Smallholder Mixed Farming Systems in Bhutan," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 11(01), pages 1-19, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:phajad:200290
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.200290
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/200290/files/AJAD_2014_11_1_1Samdup.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.200290?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arsenio M Balisacan & Rosemarie G. Edillon & Sharon Faye Piza, 2005. "Rural Poverty in Southeast Asia: Issues, Policies, and Challenges," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 2(1&2), pages 25-38, December.
    2. Chhewang Rinzin & Walter J. V. Vermeulen & Pieter Glasbergen, 2007. "Public perceptions of Bhutan's approach to sustainable development in practice," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 52-68.
    3. Sameer Alhamidi & Mats Gustafsson & Hans Larsson & Per Hillbur, 2003. "The cultural background of the sustainability of the traditional farming system in the Ghouta the oasis of Damascus, Syria," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 20(3), pages 231-240, September.
    4. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808, Decembrie.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jean D. Gumirakiza & Spencer Langford, 2024. "Do Small and Mid-scale Beginning Farmers and Experienced Farmers Feel the Same About Farm Financial and Profitability Position?," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(11), pages 1-8, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jofri Issac & Robert Newell & Colin Dring & Charmaine White & Mohaddese Ghadiri & Stefania Pizzirani & Lenore Newman, 2022. "Integrated Sustainability Planning and Local Food Systems: Examining Areas of and Gaps in Food Systems Integration in Community Sustainability Plans for Municipalities across British Columbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Kittiya Yongvanich & James Guthrie, 2006. "An extended performance reporting framework for social and environmental accounting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 309-321, September.
    3. Gábor Megyeri & Kitti Boros & Balázs Fekete, 2022. "A Theoretical Concept of an Innovative and Sustainable Product Based on an Unconventional Approach to Design Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Karine Constant & Marion Davin, 2014. "Environmental Policy and Growth in a Model with Endogenous Environmental Awareness," AMSE Working Papers 1405, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Mar 2014.
    5. Daniels, Peter L., 2010. "Climate change, economics and Buddhism -- Part 2: New views and practices for sustainable world economies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 962-972, March.
    6. Peter Roberts, 2002. "The Scottish strategic and spatial context for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(3), pages 131-139.
    7. Maite Cubas‐Díaz & Miguel Ángel Martínez Sedano, 2018. "Measures for Sustainable Investment Decisions and Business Strategy – A Triple Bottom Line Approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 16-38, January.
    8. Daniele Ronsivalle, 2023. "Relevance and Role of Contemporary Architecture Preservation—Assessing and Evaluating Architectural Heritage as a Contemporary Landscape: A Study Case in Southern Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.
    9. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    10. Claire Woods & Roger Urwin, 2010. "Putting Sustainable Investing into Practice: A Governance Framework for Pension Funds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 1-19, April.
    11. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    12. Pero, Margherita & Bottani, Eleonora & Bigliardi, Barbara, 2014. "Exploring Sustainability in Construction Supply Chains," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Next Generation Supply Chains: Trends and Opportunities. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), Vol. 18, volume 18, pages 161-182, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    13. Euston Quah, 2015. "Pursuing Economic Growth in Asia: The Environmental Challenge," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(10), pages 1487-1504, October.
    14. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    15. Cohen, Boyd & Winn, Monika I., 2007. "Market imperfections, opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 29-49, January.
    16. Yiridoe, Emmanuel K. & Weersink, Alfons, 1997. "A review and evaluation of agroecosystem health analysis: The role of economics," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 601-626, December.
    17. Richard Hu, 2015. "Sustainable Development Strategy for the Global City: A Case Study of Sydney," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-15, April.
    18. Milazzo, M.F. & Spina, F. & Cavallaro, S. & Bart, J.C.J., 2013. "Sustainable soy biodiesel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 806-852.
    19. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    20. Andrea Beatriz Damico & José María Aulicino & Jorgelina Di Pasquale, 2022. "What Does Sustainability Mean? Perceptions of Future Professionals across Disciplines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:phajad:200290. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/searcph.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.