This
series of briefings is about why Tibet matters, in the Copenhagen
negotiations for the planetary  climate. Because the six million
Tibetans are silenced, forbidden to form their own organisations,
people  think Tibet is small and unimportant on a global scale.
Actually, of every square kilometre of land on earth, 17 hectares are
Tibetan. Climate scientists have recently realised the Tibetan Plateau
is the planetary Third Pole, an island in the sky so vast it deeply
affects circulation, draws the Asian monsoons deep inland, affecting
even storm tracks of the north Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Tibet
matters, because not only are its glaciers melting fast but the Plateau
is warming faster than other areas on earth, resulting in more extreme
and unpredictable weather across Asia. If the most glaciated part of
the planet may lose its glaciers in decades, the whole of Asia,
downstream and downwind of Tibet, will suffer more extreme weather. Climate
change is not an impersonal, inexorable force of nature. It has known
human causes, and available solutions. But the biggest emitters
continue to avoid taking effective action, each arguing that first the
other must do more. At Copenhagen, the biggest greenhouse gas
emitters are China and the US. China argues quite rightly that it took
centuries of industrialisation in the rich countries to build CO2
levels to where they are now. But does that mean China should be
largely exempt from the binding carbon emission reduction targets which
should come out of Copenhagen? The US argues, rightly, that all
industrialised and rapidly industrialising countries should contribute
to the carbon emission reduction, because the problem is now so serious. So
it goes round and round, each major emitter making valid points to
avoid doing much, even to claim the right to massive payments to do
anything. While the major emitters argue, the losers are those who
never emitted much, who persist with a sustainable subsistence economy,
a modest way of life that does not demand ever increasing production,
pollution and consumption. This includes the six million
Tibetans and the 2.5 million sq km Tibetan Plateau, in the heart of 
Eurasia. The nine briefings in this series assess what is at stake at
Copenhagen, from a Tibetan angle. They explain the impacts of
climate change on Tibetan lands and livelihoods. They look at what
climate change in Tibet means for Tibet’s neighbours in coming years,
from failed monsoons to extreme floods. They look at the
Tibetans who have long cared for the land, the farmers and pastoral
nomads and at new Chinese policies which expel nomads from their lands,
as if this is the only way to conserve watersheds. This series
of nine briefings offers a complete picture, including alternative
solutions which include rather than exclude the nomads as part of the
solution, rather than labelling them mistakenly as a cause of the
problem. Each Briefing stands on its own, with a list of
sources of further information and data validating the assessments
presented. Taken together, the nine Briefings, with little overlap,
offer a rounded picture of how the latest science understands the
Tibetan Plateau and the Tibetan people.  1       TIBET IN COPENHAGEN  2       HEATING THE CLIMATE OF THE THIRD POLE  3      INDIA’S MONSOONAL CLIMATE AND TIBET  4       TIBETAN FARMERS FACE CLIMATE CHANGE  5      TIBET’S NOMADS FACING CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISPOSSESSION  6       CHINA, TIBET AND CLIMATE CHANGE  7      IS TIBET PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION?  8      SOLUTIONS FOR TIBET AND FOR PLANETARY HEALTH  9       CHINA, GLOBAL CONSUMPTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE  10       WHERE TO FROM COPENHAGEN? Climate
change in Tibet is a human rights issue, because, in the name of
climate change adaptation, China forces Tibet’s nomads to lose their
lands and livelihoods. It is a development issue, because Tibetans are
poor, and disempowered, with little opportunity to repair their damaged
grasslands or slow the melting of the glaciers. Skilful inclusive
development that engages Tibetans as active partners, versus unskilful
top-down statist exclusion of nomads, are among the development choices
facing Tibet now. Tibet is not a remote area, of little
significance. It is the size of western Europe, 1.7 per cent of all
land on earth, and cannot be spoken for by those who lack intimate
knowledge of how to live extensively, sustainably and productively on
the plateau surrounded by snow mountains. Tibetan voices must
be and will be heard in the negotiations for a liveable planet. This is
not a demand for independence of Tibet, or an attempt to politicise the
climate debate. Tibetans want to be part of the solution to climate
change, working with the international community to rehabilitate the
rapidly degrading rangelands, so Tibet can once more be a natural
carbon sink, a capacity that is fast disappearing right now. If
the viability of life on earth is at stake, all lives, in all areas,
must be included, must be present in the debate, and heard as
legitimate voices speaking up for their land and people. Tibetans come
to Copenhagen with this basic stance, and unique perspective. His
Holiness the Dalai Lama has frequently expressed his deep concern at
the deteriorating climate, soils, rivers, lakes and human livelihoods
in Tibet and therefore downstream also. Tibetans have little
opportunity to protect this natural heritage, and are not even allowed
to form their own NGOs for environmental protection. The world
comes to Copenhagen willing to assist China meet its goals, even though
China refuses to be bound by specific emission reduction quotas. China
asks for large sums to protect its watersheds from the effects of
climate change, but is less willing to act decisively to reduce the
basic causes of climate change. When the world assists China it
can also assist Tibet, but only if the money allocated is very
carefully targeted, and implementation in Tibet is directly supervised
by international NGOs or development agencies. On the basis of long
experience, this is the way to ensure China’s clean development finance
does not in reality, on the ground, evict Tibetan nomads from their
land.