DIIR observes World Environment Day

Thursday, 5 June 2008, 2:39 p.m.

Guest Speaker Tashi Tsering from the Tibet Justice Center in the US (standing right), making presentation on the importance of Tibetan rivers and some of the pressing environmental issues concerning exploitative measures being undertaken by the Chinese government in Tibet.

Dharamshala: The Environment
and Development Desk of the Department of Information and International
Relations (DIIR), today provided an environmental awareness workshop to
Tibetan students from four different schools, to mark the World
Environment Day, at the Gangkyi staff mess.

World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one
of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates
worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention
and action.

Twenty-two participants from Tibetan schools, including Tibetan
Children’s Village (TCV) Dharamshala, TCV Gopalpur, Central Schools for
Tibetans, Chauntara, and Herbertpur, attended the workshop.

Participants paying rapt attention to the environmental awareness workshop organised by Environmental and Development Desk of the DIIR on the World Environment Day, in Dharamshala, Thursday, 5 June 2008.

In his opening address, Mr Sonam N Dagpo, secretary for
International Relations said: ” Rapid building of factories and
industries, and large scale deforestation aimed solely for making
materialistic development, poses serious threat to the world
environment. Natural disasters, such as cyclone, drought, storm, etc
are some of the detrimental consequences of causing environmental
degradation.”

“Unusual hot weather conditions nowadays in Dharamshala, recent
earthquake in China and storms in the US are some of the pressing
implications of the degrading world environment,” he added.

He said tampering with the natural ecosystem of an area would
cause the domino effect on its surroundings. Large scale damming of
rivers and natural exploitation in Tibet would have serious
environmental implications in China and other Asian countries, which
source their water from Tibet.

Mr Dagpo said the environmental condition of an area of an
individual or at a community level have immediate effects on its
neighbourhood or a country. Emphasising the need to maintain clean
environment at these two levels, he said efforts should be made in
shunning the use of hazardous non-biodegradable materials such as
plastic bags.

Expressing concerns over the global warming, he said
the international community should mobilize efforts to cut emissions of
carbon, which triggers rapid melting of glaciers causing floods and
other natural calamities.

He said the younger generation should bear the responsibility
not to repeat the wrong precedents set inadvertently or otherwise by
their elders.

Guest Speaker Tashi Tsering, an expert on rivers of Tibet,
provided a detail presentation on pressing environmental issues
concerning exploitative measures being undertaken by the Chinese
government in Tibet.

Chokyi and Dolma Yangkyi, researchers at the Environment and
Development offered basic environmental education and spoke on the
crucial environmental issues in Tibet.