Abstract
The concerns about human impact on environment was addressed by Thomas Malthus (1986) when he indicated that there will be an ecological catastrophe owing to exponential growth of human population against the linear growth of food production. It is not only the size of population that impacts the environment, but also the patterns of population distribution, composition and significantly the trend in human consumption and conduct (Dover & Butler, 2015). This draws attention to the consumption pattern of a given population and the significance of environmentally friendly conducts- the pro environmental behaviors [PEB]. This research will study the pro environmental behaviors of Bhutanese population and their variations across different age, sex & residential groups. This research aspires to add new avenue on the determinants of pro environmental behaviors—extending from psychological and normative rationality through a demographic compositions and other underlying factors. The case of Bhutan may yield different outlook on the existing theories—particularly on the sex composition and pro environmentalism viewed through an eco-feminist approach. Notable reference through this theory was on the rectification of environmental policies in national parliament that has more number of female parliamentarians than the male parliamentarians (Norgaard, K., & York, R., 2005)—which is in contrast to the case of Bhutan where the parliament comprises a majority of male parliamentarians yet environmental policies are the prioritized policies. Such variation enables this research to introduce other underlying factors that determine pro environmental behaviors such as education, culture, tradition, governance, awareness and knowledge about the environmental issues. The result of this intended research shall aid to understand the variation of behavioral patterns in Bhutan and come up with policy recommendations to encourage pro environmental behavior among Bhutanese to ensure environmental sustainability— a prioritized developmental goal of Bhutan.
June 16, 2021
