DHARAMSHALA: A day-long conference on ‘Environment, Economy and Development of Tibet’ was organised by the Tibet Policy Institute (TPI), the think-tank of the Central Tibetan Administration on 4 November.

The conference was organised as part of the think-tank’s efforts to bring to the notice of the Tibetan community the enormous economic and development changes that are transforming the lives of the Tibetan people in Tibet, for better or worse.

Kalon Dicki Chhoyang of the Department of Information and International Relations, gave the inaugural address of the conference. She shared her ten years of experience of living in Tibet witnessing the adverse effects of environmental degradation caused by developmental projects on the lives of the Tibetan people.

She also emphasised the importance of holding such conferences and urged the Tibetans living inside and outside Tibet, particularly the educated younger generations, to pay more attention towards the adverse effects of such developmental projects.

The main speaker of the conference, Dr. Emily Ting Yeh,  Chair of the Department of Geology of the University of  Colorado,  gave a comprehensive talk on the “Climate Change-related challenges facing Tibetan pastoralists” with reference to her recently published book entitled ‘Taming Tibet – Landscape transformation and the Gifts of Chinese Development’.

TPI Research Fellows shared their research findings on various Tibet-related topics like resettlement of Tibetan nomads, military and economic implications of the railway line in Tibet, comparative analysis of Tibet’s past and present economy, model schools in Tibet, ‘Sino-Indian relations, and ‘Xi Jinping and the anti-corruption campaign.

The Research Fellows of TPI presented their research works to Dr. Yeh and discussed and sought her opinion to further improve the quality of their research.