Bhutan will utilize its rivers as a clean source of energy to counter climate change woes through a $700,000 grant from the Asian Development Bank and Japan.

The grant came from the Japan Special Fund, financed by the Japanese government and administered by the bank, and will support Bhutan’s National Environment Commission’s plans to promote hydropower and other renewable energy projects.

The South Asian country will provide $50,000 in matching funds for the project which costs $750,000.

The commission will carry out the project over 18 months, and expects to complete it by September 2011. Other civil society groups and donors, including the Danish International Development Assistance, Japan International Cooperation Agency and United Nations Development Programme, will also help in coordinating the effort.

Bhutan’s rivers are the lifeblood of its economy, accounting for more than 40 percent of the national revenue through the export of hydropower-generated electricity.

The waterways are also home to 70 percent of the population. Depending heavily on irrigated agriculture, these people are threatened by violent changing weather patterns due to climate change.

In spite of the river’s vital role, the country has no single ministry or government agency in charge of managing natural resources as a whole. The project is expected to help the commission coordinate with the different ministries and agencies to form a single management body.

The commission is the national authority for climate change issues and handles projects that are eligible to avail of carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (C.D.M.). However, it currently lacks staff and capabilities to push through with carbon mitigation endeavors.

Bhutan holds considerable potential to earn from C.D.M. with plans to have more hydropower projects with a combined output of about 10,000 megawatts. India is one of the main buyers of the country’s electricity exports.