Karma Wangchuk

College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan

Introduction The College of Natural Resources (CNR), the then Natural Resources Training Institute (NRTI) came into existence out of the need to support sustainable development in Bhutan. The four Departments of the college are Departments of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry, Department of Forestry and Department of Sustainable Development. With the launching of the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) in the year 2003, the then NRTI was inducted as a member college of the university in the year 2004. It was renamed as the College of Natural Resources and started offering undergraduate programs from the year 2009. Today, the CNR continues to offer the three existing diploma programs and four undergraduate programs in B.Sc Agriculture, B.Sc Forestry, B.Sc Animal Science and B.Sc Sustainable Development. The college has started Master's in Development Practice (MDP)A beginning July 2014 and recently college has also started providing Master in Natural Resources Management History The College of Natural Resources was established in1992 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests to train Extension Agents. The concept of training is based on the Bhutanese farming system in which crops, livestock and forests are integral parts of the rural livelihood system. Towards late 1980s, the then Ministry of Agriculture had reviewed the policy of Renewable Natural Resources (RNR) sector development. One very important outcome of the review was the integration of training programs of the different departments under the Ministry of Agriculture. The National Agriculture Training Institute at Paro, the Royal Veterinary Institute at Serbithang and the Bhutan Forestry Institute at Taba was brought under one umbrella and the then Natural Resources Training Institute (now known as the College of Natural Resources) was established at Lobesa with funding support from Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), Helvetas and Royal Government of Bhutan.