London: As part of its campaign in the run-up to UN COP26 in Glasgow, the Office of Tibet, London organised a two-day Environment conference on “The Tibetan Plateau, Addressing the Third Pole Climate Crisis” on 25 – 26 June.
The “The Tibetan Plateau, Addressing the Third Pole Climate Crisis” hosted at the Royal Geographical Society, London, is the first in-person event since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in January last year, disrupting all major political calendars and activities worldwide. The conference was hosted in compliance with the COVID-regulations in the UK.
The conference aims to raise awareness of the climate crisis on the Tibetan plateau and urge world leaders to prioritise the crisis on the Tibetan plateau in the international discourse and tackle climate change at COP26. The Tibetan Plateau is often referred to as the Planet’s Third Pole, with the largest reservoir of frozen freshwater outside the Arctic and Antarctic. However, the range of the glaciers on this fragile mountain is rapidly melting.
In his opening remarks, Representative Mr Sonam Tsering Frasi hoped that the conference would help shine the global spotlight on the consequences of rapid glacier melting of the Tibetan plateau and the likely shortage of freshwater and irrigation water supply in Asia.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, in his keynote address, requested all to take the matter of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau at various levels in the next few months to highlight its importance and advocate the significance of the third pole and climate change consequences worldwide. He also asked to follow up on this conference leading up to the UN COP26 conference.
The speakers for the day-one conference include Honourable Kerry McCarthy MP and member of All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet in UK Parliament, Environment Experts and Researchers include Dr Martin Mills, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen and Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research in Scotland, Tenzin Choekyi, Researcher at Tibet Watch, Dr Lobsang Yangtso, Researcher at International Tibet Network, Gabriel Lafitte, Editor of www.rukor.org, Tibet Environment specialist and Ms Thinlay Chukki, Special Appointee for Human Rights at Tibet Office, Geneva.
Honourable Kerry McCarthy MP highlighted the importance of the Tibetan Plateau and strongly condemned China’s industrial activity in Tibet, such as mining, damming of rivers and deforestation.
She said the international community must come together at COP26 and ahead of COP26 to press China and the other countries to end the destructive environmental practices in Tibet. She further offered her full support to magnify the voices of Tibetans’ as we come into COP26 to push the end to the resettlement on the grasslands and work with the Tibetan people to help them protect the environment they preserved for thousands of years.
Dr Martin Mills, the Director of Scottish Centre for Himalaya Research, Scotland, said, “The Global Climate Warming is causing a catastrophic collapse of the Third Pole Cryosphere. The general temperature of the Tibetan Plateau has seen a consistent movement towards a warmer and wetter climate and a reduction in the number of very cold winter days since the 1980s. There is clear evidence that temperatures across the Third Pole region are increasing at a rate two to four times the global average, a process that has been underway for more than half a century.
“This ecosystem shifts at its deepest levels in the area of the Third Pole cryosphere, what Tibetans call Khawachen, its domain of ice. Such a shift has profound implications for the rest of Asia, and ultimately in a centuries span, a catastrophic implication for Asia’s wider capacity to maintain industry, agriculture and concentrative human population. In total, 1.9 billion people live within the watersheds of Tibet’s rivers and depend upon them directly for freshwater supplies.”
Tenzin Choekyi, a researcher at Tibet Watch, highlighted the paradox of grassland desertification and Xi Jinping’s narrative of Ecological Civilization concerning Tibet’s history.
“The best way to protect Tibet is not through President Xi Jinping’s narrative of Ecological civilisations, his two mountains theory or his interpretation of United Nations sustainable development goals or socialism with Chinese characteristics and neither the west romanticism of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibet’s original culture and religion have far more expensive wisdom to manage their land than policymaker of ecological civilisation,” said Choekyi.
“The concept and policy of ecological civilisation must be rooted in the empathetic awareness of plurality of visions of land and its people and freedom for them to embody them fully and freely.”
Dr Lobsang Yangtso, Researcher at Tibet Network, focussed on Water Security and Geopolitics of major rivers of Tibet. She highlighted the importance of Tibet’s water resources which serves as the lifeblood of the world’s most populist nations – India and China, including other countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. ‘
According to Dr Lobsang, rivers include Yangtse, Mekong, Salween and Indus in Tibet are threatened by China’s policies of damming, water transfer projects and other mining activities, which severely led to water pollution, destabilisation of fragile mountains and affected the overall Ecology of Tibet.
Environment specialist Gabriel Lafitte in his presentation, mentioned that China is not only the world’s biggest emitter of climate heating gases but also the world’s biggest polluter.
“The environmental policies shaping China’s approach in Tibet are not readily separated from China’s other policies towards Tibet. This is not accidental. China’s approach to the Tibetan Plateau, and more broadly towards the whole of the far west, is a package of policies emphasising speedy development and integration into the Chinese economy, with environmental policies integral to success.”
Ms Thinlay Chukki, Special Appointee for Human Rights at Tibet Office, Geneva, spoke in length about Environment Rights and Advocacy especially from the rights-based approach vis a vis the UN. Ms Chukki highlighted the broad overview of environmental rights and the avenues available at the UN to advocate for these rights.
She said, “In the context of environmental rights and Tibetans, advocacy would be ensuring that the voices of the Tibetans who are oppressed and whose environmental rights are being violated are amplified at every table that matters.”She also explained how to advocate at the UN in the case of Anya Sengdra a Tibetan nomad in Amdo, an environmentalist and anti-corruption activist who was detained, tortured and sentenced to 7 years in prison by the Chinese Govt.
The day two conference focused mainly on Climate Campaign and Advocacy for the Tibetans. The speakers include Dr Martin Mills, Ms Thinlay Chukki, Ms Joanna Walton, Director of Communications and People, Ashden Climate Solutions in Action, UK and Ms Aliza Ayaz, United Nations Youth Goodwill Ambassador who gave a motivational speech in the end about the urgency of working together to tackle global climate change and achieving carbon neutrality.
Speaker Joanna Walton works for Climate Charity Ashden, and she spoke about Climate Action Movement in UK schools and encouraged the young Tibetans to do their bit to save energy at home and school. She said we are all in this together to make a difference and asked them to sign up for let’s go Zero Campaign.
The two-day panel discussion was moderated by Ms Tsering Tsomo and Ms Tenzin Zeydhan, staff of Office of Tibet and Ms Lobsang Samtem, THT EC Grant Officer.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks to all the speakers and presentation of a book titled, “This Fragile Planet” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and edited by Author Michael Buckley from Office of Tibet London.
The event reached many audiences, both in-person and live audiences with great interaction with the expert speakers.
We believe this event will bring more awareness about the crisis on the Tibetan Plateau to contribute to global warming and call for action to stop China’s illegal practices of Damming and Mining for economic gain.
–Filed by Office of Tibet London