A National GIS Decision-Support System for Forestry Clearance in Bhutan

Challenge

Department of Forests and Park Services of Bhutan (DoFPS) manages one of the world’s most protected and biodiverse forest landscapes. As the volume and complexity of clearance requests gradually increased, the department recognized that its existing tools, ranging from paper archives to spreadsheets and individual devices, made the evaluation process more time-consuming than necessary.

  • Processing a single application could take up to one week
  • Information lived across several unconnected sources
  • Required more transparency and diligence

Solution

DoFPS set a clear vision: bring all forestry data into one place and use GIS-based automation to support faster, more consistent decision-making.

Arbonaut and local partner Green e-Solutions collaborated closely with the department to make that vision real.

Improving the forestry-clearance workflow aligned directly with Bhutan’s environmental values and national commitments:

  • Still carbon-negative: Bhutan continues to absorb more carbon than it emits
  • ~70% forest cover: National Forest Inventory 2022 reports 69.71%
  • A pillar of Gross National Happiness where environmental protection is central to national development

Two-phase digital transformation

National Database and Portal

Arbonaut built a centralized spatial platform that consolidates Bhutan’s nationwide forestry datasets. This gave DoFPS:

  • A unified national forestry database
  • Reliable, quick access to spatial data
  • More consistent internal data management practice
  • Transparent, repeatable decision-making

Spatially-enabled Decision Support System (SDSS)

To further support staff in making informed and objective decisions, Arbonaut built a web-based GIS tool that automatically analyzes proposals against standardized spatial criteria.

What the new system enables:
  • Approx. 10,000 workdays saved per year
  • Small-area clearances issued in a single day
  • Estimated €1 million euros saved per year
  • Over 100 users for unbiased assessments within a few minutes
  • Less field verification required, reducing time and resource use
  • Has been used more than 27,000 times to decide on clearance
Trip to Bhutan

Customer meeting in Bhutan

Web platform for forest clearance

Web-based platform for forestry clearance

Arbonaut's mission in Bhutan

Our mission in Bhutan

Outcomes

The project delivered strong, tangible results. Arbonaut provided:

  • Training for about 15 forestry officers on daily system use
  • Capacity building for local IT personnel to independently maintain the platform

This ensures long-term continuity, resilience, and national ownership of the system.

Arbonaut sincerely appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with DoFPS on a project contributing to this important initiative!