Artificial Rain on the Tibetan Plateau for More Water in China

                                                                                                                                 * By Dechen Palmo

By Dechen Palmo

Due to water scarcity in major Chinese cities, Chinese scientists are coming up with different techniques to acquire more water to satisfy their growing demand.

According to a recent news report published on 22 March, 2018 in South China Morning Post, "China needs more water. So it's building a rain-making network three times the size of Spain," China is testing a weather modification system developed by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The scientists have designed and constructed chambers using cutting-edge military rocket engine technology to develop this system. This is a cloud seeding method to bring more rain on the Tibetan plateau.

Tibet is the home of largest store of accessible freshwater outside the North Pole and South Pole, it is also the source of the six most important rivers of Asia. Since Tibet is self-sufficient in water, there is no need for the Tibetan plateau to induce such artificial rain-making system.  These burners are set up by Chinese on the Tibetan plateau to increase rainfall in order to feed the Drichu (Yangtze) and Machu (Yellow), which are the lifeline of Chinese people.

So far, according to the news, China has built over 500 burners on Tibetan mountains. Furthermore, they are planning to build tens of thousands of more such burners. Cloud-seeding is a method used by scientists to alter rainfall pattern. Water in clouds need to form into heavy droplets to precipitate. But often, the droplets in the clouds are just too small to precipitate. This technique involves an enormous network of fuel burning chambers which burn solid fuel to produce silver iodide, a cloud-seeding agent with a crystalline structure, much like that of an ice. 

Image: Snowy hydro

These chambers are installed high on the Tibetan mountain ridges facing the moist monsoon from South-Asia. As wind hits the mountains, it produces an upward draft and sweeps the particles into the cloud to induce rain and snowfall. This practice is not new and it is used in many countries. Even Beijing famously used it during the Olympics in 2008. But the matter to be concerned about is that the Chinese government is considering setting up what would be the world's largest cloud-seeding operation and keep these chambers operating in a near-vacuum conditions for months, or even years, without requiring maintenance on the Tibetan plateau.

Other cloud-seeding methods such as using planes, cannons and drones to blast silver iodide into the atmosphere won't have much environmental impact as the process of "blast" is for a short duration and induce rain only when it is required. But the type of chambers built on the Tibetan plateau that operate for months and years might have more impact over other methods. This cloud-seeding technique sounds good in theory, but the question is, does the technique work and what would be the long-term effects on the Tibetan plateau?

Whether cloud-seeding is a sustainable method is a controversial subject. A study in 2016 by the Wyoming Weather Modification Pilot Programme found that, although the technique can increase precipitation if wind and other conditions are ideal, it cannot do so reliably over a long period or on a large scale. Much of the literature on this substantiate that not only does cloud-seeding fail to achieve the desirable effect, it also could yield harmful consequences. Some of these consequences include rain suppression, flood, tornado and silver iodide toxicity.

In Australia, scientists consider three or five years to be the bare minimum period required to obtain a reliable data from the area of seeding trial.  However, Australia has stopped cloud-seeding due to environmental reasons.

The Tibetan plateau is very fragile and any weather modification could be fraught with unintended consequences. Before tens of thousands of chambers are to be built at select locations across the Tibetan plateau, the Chinese government should wait for at least three to five years to get reliable data from these 500 burners which have already been set up. They also should carry out a thorough scientific study of its use and conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before giving the green light to such project.

        *The author is an environment Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute

Tibet to Xinjiang Water Diversion Plan

                                                                                                                               *By Dechen Palmo

                                                                                                             Actual date February 14, 2018  

Fan Xiao 17.01.2018

The 2017 revival: Plans to divert a major river from Tibet to Xinjiang

The latest version of the plan is particularly mind-boggling.

It includes a 750-kilometre tunnel traversing the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, from the river’s Great Bend to Golmud; and a number of tributary tunnels to bring in water from the Parlung Tsangpo; the Nu and the Tongtian Rivers. It claims water will flow naturally towards Golmud, but the altitude at the start of the tunnel is less than 2,000 metres – and Golmud is at 2,700 metres. It is unclear how water will flow uphill.

The mountain valleys of south-western Tibet are prone to earthquakes and rock and mudslides. This is particularly the case at the Great Bend, where history records numerous strong earthquakes and landslides damning the river and causing flooding. The environmental and economic costs of such a huge project here are hard to imagine.

Rivers need a certain amount of water to supply their ecosystems and the needs of sustainable development for local societies – it is generally thought that no more than 30-40% of a river’s natural flow should be exploited. These schemes would see unreasonable quantities of water diverted from the rivers – 83.3% to 91.5% in the Shuotian Canal proposal. The more recent proposal does not give a specific figure, but says “most” or “all” water from the Source Rivers will be taken.

The rivers involved all flow across international borders. In 1972 the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment stated that: “States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.”

The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development reaffirmed that principle and stressed that development, particularly joint development, is important. The architects of these plans show nothing but ignorance and arrogance regarding the concept of international rivers.

Both plans repeatedly use water shortages in northern China as a justification, but this is a mistake.

Some parts of the north are semi-humid, and even in some arid and semi-arid areas glacier melt creates fertile zones, such as the Hexi corridor and Xinjiang. Many water shortages are due to environmental damage, often arising from inappropriate human activity or misuse of water resources.

It is also the case that ecosystems form according to the resources available; demand arises according to supply. To increase supply to meet demand is a mistake. We cannot steal from one place to make up a shortage elsewhere, nor can we reallocate natural resources and change the natural environment at will. We will fail to achieve our goals and ultimately pay a huge price.

These schemes claim they will remake China and turn deserts into farmland. But the scientific foundation and the authors’ understanding of nature show they are using imagination in place of facts and fantasy in place of science. We must ask ourselves: Why do so many people seem to regard these schemes as feasible?

EDD analysis:

A detailed proposal to divert the Brahmaputra from Tibet into Xinjiang was posted online by Dr. Liu Yuanyuan. This proposal of water diversion is different from the earlier proposal of 1,000 km tunnel which was published in South China Morning Post last year.

But Fan Xia, chief engineer of the Sichuan geology and mineral bureau, has said that even if environmental and social costs are ignored, the construction and maintenance costs alone mean that this scheme is not feasible.

A planned diversion map of the Brahmaputra River toward Xinjiang

The proposal suggest the construction of 750 km tunnel to take water from the great bend of Yarlung Tsangpo (the Brahmaputra River) to Glomud in Amdo and from Golmud to Lop Nor of Xinjiang. This large tunnel will be subdivided and inclined shafts are inserted in the middle to build a side slope tunnel that vertically reaches long tunnel. This long tunnel has a total of seven entry points with an average gap of 90 kilometers per entry section. This seven tunnel will bring water from the Parlung Tsangpo (tributary of Brahmaputra River), Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween River), Tongtian River (Dri chu), thereby channeling the water flow directly into the main tunnel.

To support this project, a series of big dams and big tunnels need to be built on the Tibetan Plateau, which is geologically unstable. There were a record number of earthquakes and landslide are common in the great bend and diverting the water from great bend, expert says, is not feasible.

Water shortages as the justification for this plans to divert the water from Brahmaputra to Xinjiang, and turning the Xinjiang into California, expert says, is not feasible. As we can see the impact of already completed eastern and central route of the South-North Water Transfer Project has led to mass relocation of hundreds of thousands of people and exacerbate water pollution problem. Therefore, this proposal of diverting Tibet’s river water to Xinjiang could lead to the social, economic and environmental catastrophic. Instead of diverting the water, Chinese government should encourage scientist and engineer to come up with more viable solution such as rainwater harvesting and recycle more waste water than water diversion.

Nomads of Kham Lhatok Forced to Make Way for Mining

                                                                                                                    *By Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen
                                                                                                                 Actual Date February 14, 2018

According to a Radio Free Asia report on 16 January 2018, the Chinese authorities in Tibet’s Chamdo prefecture have forced about 400 to 500 nomadic families in Lhato for expansion of Yulung Copper Mine and warned locals not to go onto the newly fenced off area to collect caterpillar fungus. Caterpillar or Yartsagunbu as its known in Tibetan is possibility only real source of income for the Tibetans in the region.

The Yulong Copper Mine site is primarily located in the (Kham Lhatok) Jomda County of Chamdo Prefecture, eastern Tibet.  The vast mine site also extends to another county as part of Lhatok has been incorporated with Chamdo county. Yulong Copper Mine is reported to be the largest copper mine in China and the second largest mine in Asia. The mine has a proven deposit of 6.5 million tons of copper in ore form and another 10 million tons of prospective reserves. According to a report in the People’s Daily (2008), the company eventually hopes to expand the production capacity to 100,000 tons a year.

Yulong copper mine is predominantly owned by Zijin Mining Group and Western Mining, both of which are China’s major mining and development company. The Western Mining holds a 58 percent stake in the mine and a unit of Goldman Sachs owns just over 8 percent of Western Mining (Reuters 2008). Western Mining Co is China’s seventh-largest copper miner. According to a Bloomberg report, the Tibet Yulong Copper Joint Stock Limited owns and operates Yulong copper mine that contains copper reserves. As per the transaction announced on 9 August, 2007, Tibet Yulong Copper

Yulung Copper Mine Site 

Joint Stock Limited operates as a subsidiary of Western Mining Co. Ltd. The Tibet Yulong Copper Joint Stock Limited was founded in 2005 and is based in China. Despite the huge copper deposit, the mine has not been in full production due to lack of necessary infrastructure. According to a statement from the company, the operation of the mine has been delayed since the 1990s due to the remoteness of the place and its weak supporting infrastructures for the mining industry. But in recent years, the scale of both expansion and extraction of the mine has greatly increased as infrastructure in the region rapidly improves. Guoduo Hydropower Station, the second largest hydropower station in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region was built to provide power for the Yulong Copper Mine (Xinhua). Even the proposed Lhasa-Nyingtri-Chengdu railway line takes an unusual turn by making a long detour off the most direct route between its namesake cities to reach the Yulong mining site. The planned railway line, otherwise touches only important county towns and prefecture cities on its route but the track deliberately touches Yulong before it moves to Chamdo city.

There has been a welcome sign of increased concern for the environment ever since Xi Jinping came into power in China.  Chinese local officials in Tibet are trying to echo their President without any real commitment for environment conservation.  Grand proposalsa were declared to create nature reserves that devoid of any actual protection on the ground, instead thousands of nomads were forced to move out from their traditional homes.

According to a press conference held inBeijing (10 March 2017) on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress, Lobsang Gyaltsen, former chairman of Tibet and current Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibet People’s Congress said that “No mining project have been approved throughout the period under two leaderships in Tibet.”   So what is happening in Chamdo could be summarized as a dual strategy – a strategy of not permitting new companies and shutting down insignificant polluting companies while allowing mega companies to both expand and increase production from the existing mine sites. Such a strategy would first help reduce further environmental destruction in the region to some extent and also will give the local government much needed claim of protecting the environment. Second, such a strategy would relieve prefecture governments’ fear of losing their bulk of income from mining.

Central Tibetan Administration needs to raise such issue of contradictions and also need to point out the lack of any benefit for the local Tibetan communities from the multi-billion worth of natural resources been extracted from Tibet.

                                      *The Author is an environment Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute

The Black Brahmaputra: Looking at Possible Causes

Slag in Brahmaputra water. Photo credit: Times of India

The issue of Brahmaputra river pollution comes at a time of deteriorating ties between India and China. Following a tense border standoff between the two countries over the Doklam trijunction, there comes a news that China has stopped sharing hydrological data of the Brahmaputra River with India which China agreed to share. Before the situation is settled, the South China Morning Post published a report about the possible diversion of the Brahmaputra to Xinjiang through a 1000 km tunnel. This further increases misunderstanding between the two countries. Then came the more worrisome news of Brahmaputra River that rises in Tibet turning unnaturally black and murky for more than two months. With all these changes in the river, China is still silent or denying the factors affecting the international river. On the other hand, India is always afraid of China using the river as a strategic tool against itself.

With the unsettled disputes between India and China on Tibet-India border, the Brahmaputra River has also become one of the major sources of concern between the two countries.

The recent standoff between the two countries started with China's road-laying effort in the Doklam plateau and India's support for Bhutan which has sovereignty over the area and to halt China’s motorable road construction in the region. The dispute that began on 16 June 2017 and the standoff ended in August. Both sides gave contradictory statements for the border disengagement.

Meanwhile, during the confrontation, China stopped sharing hydrological data of the Brahmaputra River, which could have helped India to mitigate the impacts of this year’s flood in Assam. China shared data with Bangladesh while claiming the renovation work (data collection stations) as a reason for not giving data to India. The Doklam standoff between the two countries could be the reason for China's denial to share hydrological data with India.

The situation became tense when the news of water diversion to Xinjiang came up in the Chinese media. According to a report from the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, Chinese engineers were testing technologies that could be used to build the water-diversion tunnel. Though Beijing rejected these media reports as "false and untrue", but the water diversion news still continues to haunt India.

China's lack of transparency over the Brahmaputra River and India's suspicion of China using Brahmaputra water as a leverage against India will lead to further escalation of tensions between the two countries.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu inspecting the polluted Siang water at Yingkiong. Photo credit: Pema khandu

With the water of the Brahmaputra River turning unusual muddy, people who live along the river basin believe that it has been caused by Chinese activities on the upper part of the river. Ninong Ering, a member of parliament of the Indian National Congress from Arunachal Pradesh, wrote to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and raised concerns about the issue of the Brahmaputra River turning black, and requested the Prime Minister to take up the matter with the Chinese government. He further opined that the changes in water quality, which is unusual during the winter season, could be due to a possible diversion of the river in Tibet.

With the water sample collected on 27 November 2017, the East Siang Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has found that the waters of the Brahmaputra River are high in iron content.  Bimal Welly, executive engineer, in a report states that Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) of the Brahmaputra River is 425 NTU. Whereas, the permissible range is 0-5 NTU. The report further states that the NTU of the Brahmaputra River “is very high and if exposed for a long period of time, may affect aquatic lives.”

The source of this pollution could be natural or due to man-made factors. Some river pollutions occur naturally, originating from earthquakes, volcanoes, dust storms and forest and grassland fire. Human activities, such as construction, burning of fossil fuels, power plants and various industrial processes also generate a significant amount of particulates.

Railway construction in Nyingchi. Photo credit: Tibetdiscovery.com

With so much of construction works going on in both India and Tibet, the contamination of water may have emanated from these construction sites. The surface water runoff and the groundwater close to any construction sites become polluted with the various material used in the construction work such as diesel, oil and other toxic material and cement. So some speculate that the reason could well be local construction of roads while other says that it might be from the Chinese construction of the Lhasa-Nyingtri railway line, extending its railway track all along the Yarlung Tsangpo.

According to Tage Rupa, a geomorphologist at Itanagar's Rajiv Gandhi University "Arunachal is seeing hectic construction, so maybe it's just that." She further added that "A lot of construction is close to the river, so it's possible it's just run-off from construction sites."

Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen, research fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute states that "If the Brahmaputra River running black from the entry point of the river into India at the Indo-Tibet border as reported, then the source of the river pollution has to be from Tibet. If that is so, then there are a few possibilities as already reported, such as an earthquake or dam construction. But I think there is one more possibility that hasn't been raised yet, that is construction of railway tunnels or stations along the Yarlung Tsangpo or Brahmaputra River in Tibet, most probably construction of a huge railway station near Nyingtri city".

He further added "The Lhasa- Nyingtri section of the railway line crosses Yarlung Tsangpo 16 times, piercing through the mountains with 21 tunnels and 34 train stations. Nyingtri city is located close to the confluence of Yarlung Tsangpo and Nyang Tsangpo. Therefore any construction of a major railway station near the city could seriously muddy the river. With the lowering of river volume as well as fewer tourist traveling to the region during the winter, it's an ideal time for any major construction."

Meanwhile, responding to the report on the muddy Siang River (the Brahmaputra), The Global Times attributed a statement of Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of International Relations. He stated that “India should not point its finger at China on hydrological issues to incite anti-China sentiment, which cannot help repair the ties of the two countries.”

“This time India has made a mountain out of a molehill challenging China by citing slag. India should look for problems on their own side, otherwise, Sino-Indian ties can hardly improve”, he added.

There is not enough information yet to ascertain the reason behind such phenomena. Beijing's denial and silence on the issue creates an unhealthy misunderstanding between the two countries. If the source of pollution is from the Chinese side, then it would be bad for China’s reputation. It is Beijing's responsibility to protect the source of the river on which millions of people are dependent on for their livelihood. So it is pertinent for both the countries to find the source of the pollution and rectify it rather than arguing over who is causing the pollution.

Beijing's silence on the issue makes it difficult to find the actual source of the pollution and if the river remains polluted for a longer period it would affect the ecosystem, putting at risk the flora and fauna of the region as well as the health of human beings.

India can't ignore the fact that the water pollution from the source in Tibet could ruin the whole water system of the Brahmaputra River. So it is necessary for India to raise the issue with China and take a pragmatic approach towards preserving the sources of the major Asian rivers.

Beijing needs to improve its transparency over the shared river to fulfil the great Chinese dream of peaceful development and to be a responsible stakeholder in the international arena in the new era of China’s peaceful rise. This will further help China to enhance trust and reduce the risk of dangerous miscalculations.

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* Dechen Palmo is a research fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Tibet Policy Institute,

  

Brahmaputra River: An Eternal Conflict between India and China

*By Dechen Palmo

The problem of water scarcity in the region

China having more than 20% of the world’s population has less than 7% of global freshwater resource at its disposal. Moreover, the available water is unequally distributed, with Tibet having more water than northern China. To relieve the enormous pressure on water resource in China’s north, the leadership in 2003 launched a gigantic South-to-North Water Transfer Project.[i] To satisfy its insatiable demand for electricity and as a part of its shift away from coal, China went on a dam building spree. However, the Chinese projects on the Tibet's transboundary river have negative impact on the downstream countries.

The frozen Yarlung Tsangpo River just before it enters India from Tibet (Image by Yang Yong) caption

One such issue is about the Brahmaputra River. The Brahmaputra River which is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo and has its source in Chemayungdung glacier in Tibet.  The river flows into three densely populated nations of the world--China, India and Bangladesh.  India, which is the middle riparian of the Brahmaputra River, has sour relations with China which control the source of this river in Tibet. 

For India, the Brahmaputra River is of great importance for two reasons: first, The River, accounts for 29% of the total run-off of India's rivers, is key to India's river linking project; second, The Brahmaputra basin possess about 44% of India's total hydropower potential.[ii]

But with Chinese construction of dams and water diversion projects, it threatens the downstream countries. In the meantime, there is need for Beijing to maintain relatively stable relations with neighbouring countries in order to provide conditions for China's peaceful rise.[iii]

Desecuritizing the water issue

To meet its surging energy demand, China itself seeks to utilize its huge hydropower potential of the Brahmaputra but on other hand, China has to maintain a stable relation with India and Bangladesh. Therefore, China follows the desecuritization policy to deal with the water sharing conflicts.

Desecuritization refers to the process of "moving issues off the security agenda and back into the realm of political discourse and normal political dispute and accommodation. Desecuritization is therefore about ‘turning threats into challenges and security into politics’.[iv]

Source: Environment and Development Desk, Tibet Policy Institute

China's desecuritization moves have primarily been of a reactive and short-term nature.[v] Whenever there is concerns raised about the Chinese activities on the upstream of the river, Beijing resorts to a volley of rhetorical comments. The main tool used by the Chinese is the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding sharing hydrological data with India and Bangladesh, not leaving any space for downstream to point finger to China for being uncooperative upper riparian country.

But, whenever the circumstances arise, China uses Tibet's river to achieve its foreign policy goal. During the Doklam conflict, the issue of Brahmaputra also came into play, this is because of the lack of cooperation or agreement between the two countries. Since there is no water sharing agreement or any dispute settling mechanism between the two countries, the issue of water is often mixed with border conflicts.

Existing apparatus between the countries on water is mostly a series of MoU on hydrological data sharing and a body of experts-level mechanism. However, these MoUs are non-binding and there is no overseeing organizational body that can ensure a fair implementation of the agreement.

With the recent Chinese policy of not sharing hydrological data with India, China has actually violated the bilateral MoUs. According to the MoUs, China is obliged to share a hydrological data from three upstream monitoring stations of the Brahmaputra River in Tibet during the monsoon season from May 15 to October 15 and India on other side has to pay for the hydrological data.  While China sells hydrological data to downstream countries, India provides such data without charging fee to both of its downstream neighbors- Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Mr. Raveesh Kumar, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson during a regular briefing said that "for this year, we have not received the hydrological data from the Chinese side".[vi]

Will the existing MoUs and the expert level mechanism between the two countries ensure future cooperation? Will there be any war between the two countries as predicted in case of any physical change in the flow of the river?

Until now, the existing MoU and the expert level mechanism worked for both countries. Beijing assured continuous flow of river despite damming of the river and the Indian government on the other hand also maintain a cordial relation with China over water issues, while simultaneously raising Brahmaputra River as an issue of concern with Chinese leaders.

Water Conflict

Due to rising demand, extensive use and climate change have all aggravated water security problems in the region.  According to a Mckinsey report (2009) it suggests that by 2030, water demand in India will grow by almost 1.5 trillion m³, against this demand, India’s current water supply is approximately 740 billion m³.  As a result, most of India’s river basin could face severe deficit by 2030, unless concerted action is taken. [vii] 

For whatever reason, either because of Doklam conflict or because of some technical reasons as China claimed, Beijing didn't provide the hydrological data to India for this year. This hydrological data is of great importance to the Indian side to predict or prepare for flood and to mitigate flood damage.

With the usual China desecuritization moves over water conflicts, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media in Beijing that "for a long time we have cooperated on the river data with the Indian side. But to upgrade and renovate the relevant station on the Chinese side, we do not have the conditions now to collect the relevant statistics of the river." But the question of upgrading and reconstruction comes to light when Bangladesh, downstream to India received same hydrological data from China about the same river. Bangladesh's water resources minister, Anisul Islam Mohammad confirmed to the BBC that his country was receiving hydrological data from China.[viii]

Although, Beijing claimed the alleged paucity in data sharing is because of renovation, but Chinese observers have pointed to the escalating tensions in Doklam.

Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences said that "Although China is a responsible country, we can't fulfill our obligations to India when it shows no respect to our sovereignty". He further added that China will not agree to carry out normal cooperation on hydrological data with India, unless it agrees to withdraw troops from Doklam.[ix]

So, from this it clearly indicates that Beijing is using the Brahmaputra as a leverage against India to achieve its political goal. Since the problem of border conflict is unlikely to be solved in the near future, so does the problem of Brahmaputra River.

If China continues with the lack of transparency over its project, and not adhere to the MoUs, the mistrust between the countries will continue to increase and it could lead to conflicts in the future.

Therefore, it is necessary for both countries to set up a joint institutional mechanism to encourage further cooperation on disaster management, climate change and environmental protection. If the current situation remains the same, then this is likely lead to a war over water as predicted by some of the experts.

*The author is an environment Research Fellow at the Environment & Development Desk of the Tibet Policy Institute

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[i] For more information, see South-to-North Water Diversion Project, China, Accessed on 30 October, 2017,Retrieved from: https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/south-north-water-transfer-project

[ii] Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman and Olli Varis, ‘Integrated water management of the Brahmaputra Basin: perspectives and hope for regional development’, National Resources Forum 33(1), (2009), pp. 60 – 61.

[iii] For more information on peaceful rise, see Peaceful rise, Accessed on 29 October, 2017. Available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2005-09-01/chinas-peaceful-rise-great-power-status

[iv]  Williams, ‘Words, images, enemies’, p. 523.

[v] Ole Waever, ‘Securitization and desecuritization’, in Ronnie Lipschutz, ed., On Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), p. 60.

[vi] Hindustan times, accessed on 29 September, 2017, available at http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/have-not-received-data-on-rivers-from-China-says-external-affairs-ministry/storyjyFqj071HSoGQogPF1uiUP.html

[vii] As quoted in ('the Mckinsey Report') by IDSA, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, 'Water Security for India: The External Dynamics,' IDSA Task Force Report, September, 2010, ISBN# 81-86019-83-9

[viii] Navin Sigh Khadka, 'China and India water 'dispute' after border standoff, 18 September 2017, retrieved from BBC, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41303082

[ix] Zhao Yusha, Global times (2017). China has to halt river data sharing as India infringes on sovereignty: expert

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1062249.shtml

UN Climate Change Summits: With or Without Tibet

*By Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen

Introduction

The 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) or the UN Climate Summits will be organized by the government of Fiji. But due to logistic issues to accommodate tens of thousands of delegates from 197 member states, the conference will be held in Bonn, Germany from 6-17 November 2017. This mega event is the world's biggest climate conference attended by heads of states, government delegates, climate scientists, environment researchers and activists from across the globe.

Fiji, which is home to over 870,000 people, is frequently hit by cyclones and floods as a result of climate change. Rapid sea-level rise has threatened the island nation and forced villages to move to higher grounds.

Tibet the Roof of the World

Located far away form the pacific island nation of Fiji, the Tibetan Plateau is another region that is facing the brutal brunt of climate change. A small team of Tibetan delegates, though unrecognized as a sovereign member delegates, have been faithfully attending the UN climate summits since 1992 to voice its plight. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was the first ever Tibetan to speak at such summits on Tibet's environment.

Why Tibet need to be at the UN Climate Change Summits

Tibet, known as the “Roof of the World”, is an environmentally strategic area and critical to the health of the planet. As the world focuses on climate action at COP23 and beyond, Tibet must be central to any progress made on climate change.

The Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of more than 4000 meters above sea level and covering an area of 2.5 million square kilometers, is the highest and largest plateau on earth. Tibet is also the head source of Asia's greatest rivers[1] supporting livelihood in 10 most densely populated nations in the world, such as Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China

After the Arctic and Antarctic, the Tibetan Plateau with 46,000 glaciers, is home to the third largest concentration of ice on earth. Hence is rightly referred to as the planet’s 'Third Pole' and any drastic land cover change on the third pole will resonate across Asia and beyond.

But due to its vast surface area at an extreme elevation, the temperature rise on the Tibetan Plateau is twice more the global average.  This has led to rapid glacial retreat and permafrost degradation. According to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, 82% of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau have retreated in the last fifty years. If the current rate continues, then 2/3 of all glaciers on the plateau would be gone by 2050 (Tandong Yao). The fast thawing of permafrost on the plateau would result in the release of vast quantity of carbon into the atmosphere. This could further exacerbate the rising temperature and cause extreme climatic conditions across the world. The plateau not only influences the timing and intensity of Asian monsoons but the increasing heat waves in Europe are also linked to the decreasing glaciers on the Tibetan plateau.

The rapid melting of glaciers would cause sudden surge in river flows in the next few years, causing floods and landslides. But the river volume could reach peak by 2030 and then would start to decline, causing unimaginable difficulties across Asia.

History of Tibetan Participation at the UN Climate Change Summits

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was the first ever Tibetan participants at UN climate summits when His Holiness was invited at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. His Holiness spoke on the issue of the Tibetan Plateau and its environmental significance.  Around the same time the Environment & Development Desk (EDD) of the Central Tibetan Administration also came into existence. Since then, EDD has been working on Tibet's environmental issues to understand the environmental conditions in Tibet, to highlight the global significance of the plateau and work for the protection its environment.

After His Holiness's presence at the Earth Summit, the second batch of Tibetan delegates to attend such summit was in 2009 when a strong team of Tibetan delegates led by EDD attended the COP15 in Copenhengen. The successful Tibetan presence at Copenhengen resulted in the continued participation of Tibetans at the subsequent UN climate conferences. The Tibetan participants, despite without negotiating rights, sincerely devoted their presence at UN climate conferences on environmental issues in whatever little possible way they could.

After 10 years of His Holiness's presence at the Rio Earth Summit, a lone Tibetan participant at 2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit was a memorable experience for this writer. The experience instilled sense of hope and desire to do whatever little one can in protecting Tibet's environment and contributing to the success of UN climate negotiations. 

Tibetan delegates with Climate Action for Tibet pose at the COP21 UN Climate Summits in Paris

The 2015 participation at the COP21 UN climate summit in Paris was probably the biggest and most successful Tibetan participation. Seminars and side events were held, Tibet Climate Action slogans resonated across the globe. His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivered a powerful and passionate video messages for the world during COP21. In the message, His Holiness said "this blue planet is our only home and Tibet is its roof".

Therefore, the world need to fix the leaking roof instead of playing politics on non-political issues like environment.

Possible Partners: Tibet, China and the World

Environment is an issue that concerns us all. It knows no political boundary as His Holiness the Dalai Lama rightly said in his COP21 message. His Holiness also emphasized that the environmental issues of Tibet is something that concerns not only the Tibetans but over a billion human lives in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other southern regions of Himalaya. Tibetans have always lived in harmony with nature and protected the environment in which they lived, as they have great love and respect for nature.

Tibet witnessed unprecedented number of natural disasters across the plateau with glacial avalanches, droughts and mud floods in 2016. This signaled a drastic climatic shift and a new weather pattern on the plateau. This year the situation got worse with simultaneous floods across much of the South-eastern regions of Tibet, clearly indicating urgent need for action.

There has been some positive environmental changes in recent years and months as the world unitedly signed Paris Agreement in 2015 and Chinese President Xi gave great importance to environment in his opening speech at the recently concluded 19th National People's Congress. There seem to be a common desire among all, the Tibetan people, the Chinese government and the international community to collectively work for a greener and more sustainable future. This is absolutely possible and necessary.

Beautiful Tibet

It's time the Chinese government and the world live up to their pledges and promises in combating global warming and protecting the environment. For a genuine effort in combating global climate, the protection of the Tibetan plateau is paramount. According to V Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist 'our understanding of global climate change would be incomplete without taking into consideration what's happening to the Tibetan plateau'.

Environment should be considered an apolitical issue that Tibetan people and the Chinese government can work together. We must respect and consult each other on any environmental issues that concerns the Tibetan plateau.

The United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) should

•          Launch a scientific research studies to better understand both the impact of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau and the Plateau’s critical role in reversing the effects of global climate change. Such studies would inform and enable Tibetans, the Chinese government and the international community to protect, mitigate and adapt to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.
•        Recognize the global significance of the Tibetan Plateau and world leaders gathering in Bonn must make Tibet central to global climate change discussions.

To avoid a socio-environmental catastrophe, the world need to set political games aside and  act now to protect the Tibetan Plateau’s fragile ecosystem. For which, the Tibetan participation at such climate summits are important and Tibetan voices at climate debates are necessary.

 *The author is an environment Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute

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