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Narratives for Sustainable Biodemocracy: Bhutan and Beyond

可持续生物民主的叙述：不丹及其他地区

基本信息

批准号：
AH/T00827X/1
负责人：
Nitasha Kaul
金额：
$ 6.83万
依托单位：
University of Westminster
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2020 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FT00827X%2F1
关键词：
Narratives Sustainable Biodemocracy Bhutan Beyond

项目摘要

In this project, we focus on creating a biodemocratic understanding of Bhutan to locate and strengthen the kinds of narratives that can help the developmental process to be more dynamic, responsive, transparent, accountable, and consultative. We do this through initiating reflection by planners, widening engagement by policymakers, and by fostering creative initiatives by a diverse range of social stakeholders.Bhutan, a low-income Himalayan country on the cusp of major change, can be conceptualised as a 'biodemocracy' in order to bring together political and ecological concerns. Sustainable development understood in terms of biodemocracy requires us to rethink Responsible Consumption and Production (Sustainable Development Goal 12) through an explicit recognition of the interdependence of all life forms. This is crucial for a country like Bhutan that has mindfully pioneered Gross National Happiness (GNH) as its development philosophy; the country is carbon-negative, and constitutionally mandates that 60 percent of its territory remain under forest cover in perpetuity. However, this small, high-altitude, ecologically-diverse, hydropower-rich, low-income country surrounded by populous and power/resource-hungry neighbours India and China is attempting to come to terms with modernisation and urbanisation. In the process, it is faced with rising consumption aspirations and livelihood and employment generation challenges of the twenty-first century. The accelerated pace of change in Bhutan over the last two decades has been remarkable, from the introduction of television and the internet in 1999 to the transition to parliamentary democracy in 2008 initiated voluntarily by its monarch but widely viewed with apprehension by the people. Having consolidated a democratic system of government, there is ever expanding awareness about questions of accountability when it comes to making difficult developmental choices, especially when reconciling the values, policies, and planning needed for enacting GNH. Economic statistics tell us little about development as experienced by different social groups in a society. An alternative way of making sense of development is to understand the overall narrative of development (in the case of Bhutan, GNH) within which planning occurs and specific policy choices are made, and the individual narratives that different people and groups in society draw on in seeing themselves as part of the developmental process. Development narratives constitute the strong links between how we realise our potentialities for organising economies, spaces and societies. Our interdisciplinary, boundary-crossing project, thus, focuses on co-creating knowledge networks in Bhutan through four strands - annual planners' reflection workshop, an annual public engagement conference, a creative conversation idealab, and a festival of value/s. Each of these will specifically target a diverse range of people in different but overlapping communities, including Bhutanese planners, policymakers, parliamentarians, media, academics, civil society organisations, international organisations like the UN in Bhutan, entrepreneurs, artists, students, and youth leaders. Creating such networks is vital to understanding and addressing the role of individual and collective narratives in how ecological, economic, and political consciousness and consent can foster responsible production and consumption. We will expand the network in the UK through a knowledge exchange visit to build scholarly and policy community connexions, and by developing the entrepreneurial and know-how linkages emergent from the creative conversations. The overall concluding conference in the UK will amplify our project learning and establish a firm legacy for continued future work.

在这个项目中，我们的重点是建立对不丹的生物民主理解，以找到并加强有助于发展进程更有活力、反应更灵敏、更透明、更负责任和更具有协商性的各种叙述。我们通过激发规划者的反思，扩大决策者的参与，以及促进各种社会利益相关者的创造性举措来实现这一目标。不丹是一个低收入的喜马拉雅国家，正处于重大变革的风口浪尖，它可以被定义为“生物民主”，以便将政治和生态问题结合在一起。从生物民主的角度理解可持续发展，要求我们通过明确承认所有生命形式的相互依存关系，重新思考负责任的消费和生产（可持续发展目标12）。这对于不丹这样一个将国民幸福总值（GNH）作为其发展理念的国家至关重要；这个国家是负碳的，宪法规定其60%的领土永远被森林覆盖。然而，这个小而高海拔、生态多样、水电丰富、低收入的国家，被人口众多、电力/资源匮乏的邻国印度和中国所包围，正试图接受现代化和城市化。在此过程中，中国面临着21世纪日益增长的消费需求以及创造民生和就业机会的挑战。从1999年引进电视和互联网，到2008年由君主主动发起的向议会民主的过渡，不丹在过去二十年里的变革步伐显著加快，但民众普遍感到担忧。在巩固了民主政府制度之后，在做出艰难的发展选择时，特别是在协调制定国民总收入所需的价值观、政策和规划时，人们对问责问题的认识日益增强。经济统计数据几乎不能告诉我们一个社会中不同社会群体所经历的发展。理解发展的另一种方式是理解发展的整体叙事（在不丹的情况下，GNH），其中规划发生并做出具体的政策选择，以及社会中不同的人和群体在将自己视为发展过程的一部分时所采用的个人叙事。发展叙事构成了我们如何实现组织经济、空间和社会的潜力之间的紧密联系。因此，我们的跨学科跨界项目侧重于通过以下四个方面在不丹共同创建知识网络：年度规划者反思研讨会、年度公众参与会议、创意对话理想实验室和价值/s节。每一个项目都将专门针对不同但重叠社区的不同人群，包括不丹的规划者、决策者、议员、媒体、学者、民间社会组织、国际组织（如联合国驻不丹办事处）、企业家、艺术家、学生和青年领袖。建立这样的网络对于理解和解决个人和集体叙事在生态、经济和政治意识和同意如何促进负责任的生产和消费方面的作用至关重要。我们将通过知识交流访问来扩大在英国的网络，以建立学术和政策社区联系，并通过发展创造性对话产生的企业家和技术诀窍联系。在英国举行的总结性会议将扩大我们的项目学习，并为今后继续开展的工作奠定坚实的基础。