The Tibetan Plateau – Earth’s Third Pole
”If we think of the planet as our house or as our mother – Mother Earth – we automatically feel concern for our environment. Today we understand that the future of humanity very much depends on our planet, and that the future of the planet very much depends on humanity.”
– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
The Tibetan plateau has been called the world’s ”Third Pole.” Its glaciers provide the headwaters for all the major river systems in Asia delivering freshwater to half the world’s population and are essential to maintaining ecological balance in the region.
The Tibetan word for Mount Everest – the highest point on earth – is Qomolangma, Goddess Mother of the World. Mount Kailash, the source of the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers, is sacred to Hindu and Buddhist traditions alike.
The Tibetan way of life and its ancient knowledge base is key to protecting this vital ecosystem. Yet China’s occupation of Tibet is decimating Tibetan culture, devastating the environment, and threatening the health and safety of populations downstream.
The time to act is now.
Help us save the Earth’s ”Third Pole.”
Help us save Tibet.
Many of Asia’s major river systems originate in the Tibetan plateau, which contains the largest ice fields outside the Antarctic or Arctic.
Many environmentalists call it the Earth’s “Third Pole.”
Glaciers on the Tibetan plateau feed the major river systems in Asia, including the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong and Yellow rivers delivering freshwater to 1.3 billion people while irrigating crops and providing energy for hundreds of millions more.
In sum, approximately half the world’s population benefits from the water of these rivers.
Over the past several decades, however, inadequate wastewater treatment and agricultural run-off along these rivers has been contaminating drinking water supplies negatively affecting populations down-stream.
According to some estimates, up to 70 percent of the rivers in China are polluted affecting up to 300 million people.
In India approximately 1.5 million children die of diarrhoeal disease every year due to drinking and bathing in contaminated water.
Unfortunately the situation is not improving. Water quality has been deteriorating in recent years because of massive population growth, unsustainable water consumption and industrial development.
Natural hazards such as extreme weather conditions and droughts due to climate change are on the rise, contributing to a range of existing humanitarian crises, from conflict and mass migration to famines and cataclysmic floods.
The Himalayan region already produces 15 percent of the world’s 200 million migrants. In Bangladesh, flooding currently displaces about 500,000 people every year. These numbers will rise unless another path is chosen.
In order to address its own growing freshwater crises, the Chinese government has initiated massive infrastructure projects in Tibet. One such project is the Ymdrok Tso hydroelectric power station located on Yamdrok Lake, sacred to Tibetans. There are serious concerns the project will drain the lake completely as freshwater springs have dried in recent years.
The loss of freshwater around Yamdrok Lake has forced local Tibetans to drink water from the lake resulting in health problems such as diarrhea, loss of hair and skin disease. According to the Tibet Government-in-Exile, Tibetans living in the area have lost as much as 16 per cent of their agricultural land due to the project.
China plans to expand dam-production in Tibet with forecasts to build nearly 100 new dams across the Tibetan plateau. It also plans to build several water diversion projects to move these waters away from South and South-East Asia into China thereby restricting water supply and increasing floods, environmental damage and contamination.
In addition to drawing water from tributaries of the Yangtze, China has also discussed rerouting water from the Brahmaputra northwards to the Yellow River.
This proposal has been described by some Indian experts as a declaration of ‘water war’ on India and Bangladesh.
Over the course of Chinese occupation, industrial development has expanded on the Tibetan plateau leading to a variety of adverse impacts.
In addition to negative impacts on waterways and river systems, Tibet has lost half its forestland since 1959 due to unsustainable logging practices and hydroelectricity projects.
The resulting soil erosion is leading to rising riverbeds downstream, thereby causing devastating floods along the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yellow and Yangtse rivers.
The impact of flooding on peoples’ lives has been particularly devastating in India where flash flooding has claimed many lives and caused immeasurable hardship through the loss of agricultural land.
Mining has been another area of serious environmental concern in Tibet as Chinese exploitation of natural resources has increased steadily over the occupation period without proper environmental safeguards. Canadian mining companies have contributed to environmental negligence through investment in exploration and development ventures.
Click here for more information about Canadian mining operations in Tibet
Uranium mining, nuclear waste and the presence of nuclear weapons in Tibet poses serious environmental concerns to Tibetans.
Without proper consultation or documentation, the Chinese government has been dumping radioactive waste in Tibet since the mid 1980s. Up to one quarter of China’s nuclear missile force is stored on the Tibetan plateau.
Despite evidence of rising cancer rates and birth defects near nuclear testing and dumping sites, the consequences of radioactive pollution are still unknown as no medical investigations have been carried out.
”Ancient cultures that have adapted to their natural surroundings can offer special insights on structuring human societies to exist in balance with the environment. For example, Tibetans are uniquely familiar with life on the Himalayan Plateau. This has evolved into a long history of a civilization that took care not to overwhelm and destroy its fragile eco-system.”
– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Traditional Tibetan knowledge and ways of life may help us achieve ecological balance and respond to current environmental challenges. This knowledge is maintained by Tibetan people living nearest to the land; Tibetan nomads (Drokpa) – are currently suffering an archaic Chinese policy forcibly removing them from their ancestral lands.
The Canada Tibet Committee and its international partners support the rights of the Drokpa to preserve and promote their cultural traditions, while practicing environmental stewardship through their ways of life, which respect the land upon which they live.
The CTC believes the Drokpa ought to be invited into decision-making processes affecting their land and that their input, observations and recommendations be used to help mitigate environmental hardships in Tibet as well as downstream consequences of industrial development.
Around the world, there are examples of community-based, co-management models China may use to enable the full participation of the Drokpa into decision-making processes. For instance underlying Mongolia’s ambitious climate change program is the full participation of Mongolia’s nomads in all aspects of the long-term assessment, analysis, planning, restoration, management and use, and conservation of Mongolia’s ecosystems, ecosystem services, and conservation zones.
”As a basic principle, I think it is better to help if you can, and if you cannot help, at least try not to do harm. This is an especially suitable guide when there is so much yet to understand about the complex interrelations of diverse and unique eco-systems. The earth is our home and our mother. We need to respect and take care of her. This is easy to understand today.”
– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
The Canada Tibet Committee urges Canadians to support our Tibet Third Pole campaign.
We invite you to share your thoughts and concerns with the Government of Canada by sending a letter to your local Member of Parliament (MP) on the following six points.
1. An immediate halt to the removal of Tibetan nomads (drokpa) from the grasslands.
2. An immediate halt to all land uses that threaten the Tibetan Plateau’s ecosystems, ecosystem services, traditional land uses, and especially water resources.
3. Transparent, inclusive, and on-going transboundary resource management and decision-making mechanisms that include all regional stakeholders, including Tibet’s nomadic herders.
4. An independent, international scientific assessment of the Tibetan Plateau’s ecosystems, ecosystem services, and land-use policies.
5. The use of social and ecological assessment tools and data to determine appropriate human and ecosystem adaptation and mitigation strategies on behalf of sustainable land uses and landscape-scale conservation.
6. The creation of strategic conservation zones across the Tibetan Plateau that enhance the health of ecosystem services and that involve and support Tibetans’ traditional livelihoods and stewardship practices.
Further reading
China Dialogue: where China and the World discuss the environment
Messages from His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama on Environment
http://www.dalailama.com/messages/environment
Tibet Third Pole campaign
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Tibetan Plateau blog
http://tibetanplateau.blogspot.com
China Admits to Nuclear Waste on Tibetan Plateau