Copenhagen: Talk on Tibet’s Environmental and Human Rights Issues Draws Large Audience[Tibet Third Pole, Friday, 18 December 2009, 11:35 a.m.]
Copenhagen: The
latest public event at COP15 by the Tibet Third Pole team has proved to
be one of the most successful. An evening public talk on 16 December at
Klimaforum (the NGO conference at COP15), on “Tibet Third Pole –
Nomads: Climate change and human rights”, attracted over 250 people.
The packed hall listened to presentations from Tibet Third Pole team
members, saw rare footage from Tibet and participated in a question and
answer session. Translations in Spanish, Danish and French were also
made available.The panelists included Chokyi from the
Environment Desk of the Central Tibetan Administration, Dolkar Lhamo
Kiriti and Tenzin Dhardon Sharling from Tibetan Women’s Association,
Venerable Ngawang Woeber, a former political prisoner the from
Gu-Chu-Sum and Tenzin Choedon, an environmental researcher from the
Tibetan Settlement Office in Dharamsala, India. The talk was moderated
by John Isom, executive director of Tibet Justice Center.Ms.
Chokyi, who works as a researcher at the Environmental and Development
Desk, gave a 25-minute presentation on the core environmental issues in
Tibet, and the specific case of Tibet’s nomads. Her presentation began
with the screening of a 2-minute clip from Dhondup Wangchen’s film
“Leaving Fear Behind” which featured an interview with a Tibetan nomad.
The short film featuring Dhondup Wangchen’s wife, “Lhamo Tso: Behind
the Sea” (a Tibetan Women’s Association production), was also screened.
The audience found her story particularly moving and film-makers in the
audience later requested for copies of the film and our permission to
use this film for further screenings at various international events.Ven.
Ngawang Woeber, President of Gu Chu Sum, spoke about the environmental
issues and environmental political prisoners in Tibet. Ngawang himself
being a former political prisoner also spoke briefly about his
experience as a political prisoner in Tibet. Ms. Dolkar Lhamo Kirti,
the president of Tibetan Women’s Association, presented “Tibetans as
environmental activists” and expounded on the specific case study about
the mining protests in Markham and why the Tibetans won on that
occasion and how this provides some hope for the future.
COP15 participants pick up briefing papers on the impacts of climate change in Tibet and its repercussions in Asia |
Ms.
Tenzin Dhardon Sharling, who works as the research and media officer of
Tibetan Women’s Association, spoke on “Women’s Human Rights and Climate
Change in Tibet” with specific reference to the case of nomadic women
and presented two case studies compiled from interviews with nomadic
women. She also summarised Tibet Third Pole’s demands of China and
COP15 negotiators, the key of which being to halt the forced removal of
Tibetan nomads from the Tibetan grasslands.Ms. Tenzin Choedon
spoke about how local exiled Tibetans are participating in
environmental activities initiated by Tibetan Settlement Office in
Dharamsala on waste management issues, recycling, education and
awareness-raising. The audience responded to the presentation
with questions on glacial melting, nomadic resettlement and how climate
change in Tibet is affecting the rest of Asia. There were many
sympathetic responses and one Danish participant even apologised for
the Danish government’s recent statement on the Tibetan issue.(Source: Tibet Third Pole)