*
By Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen
Twenty years ago, garbage was never a
prevalent issue in Tibet. Domestic waste was ingeniously managed and processed
into manure for farm use. But in recent years, the rampant littering on the
Tibetan Plateau has become an obnoxious reality and a rapidly evolving crisis.
*The
crisis
The waste crisis left an indelible
impression on Tashi, whose 2016 visit to Tibet completely changed his childhood
memory of the beautiful and garbage-free village that he grew up in.
Frustrated, he lamented that Tibet is no longer the same,
and there is garbage everywhere. Tashi also found that garbage had been dumped
into the rivers due to the lack of basic waste-management facilities in rural
areas.
The situation further presented itself
as numerous writings and photos of the garbage began to emerge from Tibet. The
photos highlighted construction leftovers, pilgrimage leftovers, tourist
leftovers, festival leftovers and domestic dumping, contributing to the rampant
littering on the mountains and in the rivers. The
extent and severity of the problem has compelled different local communities in
Tibet to look for solutions. Some environmental groups were formed to collect
plastic waste from their surroundings.
 |
| Local communities in Nangchen collecting garbages left over on a roadside |
Observing this rapidly evolving crisis, I was impelled to write an article titled "
Garbage Rampage in Tibet" in 2017,
highlighting the urgent need of governance on basic waste management
infrastructure and the importance of educating the general public about the
health hazards of littering
The garbage situation was echoed in a
recent article called “The Litter
Collecting Monk of Tibet,” by Feng
Hao, a researcher at the China Dialogue website. Feng wrote how plastics were
found in the stomachs of livestock died inexplicably.
*Garbage
problems in other mountainous regions
Littering has been a serious problem in
many mountainous regions. Even beautiful Bhutan is facing grave concerns from
growing volume of garbage. The situation is utterly out of control in Nepal and
many mountainous regions of northern India. The enormity of the garbage problem
has made various efforts in these regions seem futile. According to a report by
Science Advances (19 July 2017), humans have created 6,300 million tons of
plastic waste as of 2015, and if the trend continues, there will be roughly
12,000 million tons of plastic waste in the natural environment by 2050.
With rapid urbanization and a massive
influx of tourists in the region, Tibet stands at a critical junction in waste
management. Unless the Chinese government
takes a bold and effective course of action, the world's highest plateau could
plunge into the same fate as other developing countries. There is a high
possibility of the garbage problem quickly spiraling out of control.
*The
primary causes
To address the impending crisis, a clear
understanding of the factors that encourage littering is essential. Feng's
article seems to insinuate that the local communities are the primary
contributors to the garbage problem. Whereas, my 2017 article clearly cited
three alternative primary factors that lie at the root of the problem: the lack
of governance and basic infrastructure needs for waste management, the lack of
public awareness programs to highlight the health hazards and environmental
impact of garbage, and the lack of firm tourist regulations, which allows
millions of tourists in Tibet to leave behind proportional volume of waste.
In our respective articles,
Feng and I have tried to highlight a problem that could either explode
out of control or could be tackled if the right measures are quickly taken.
Upon careful analysis of the two articles, there are discernable parallels.
Could it have been my article posted last summer that prompted Feng to travel
to Tibet this summer to investigate the facts?
 |
| Local communities in Nangchen in Tibet load trucks with garbage collected from nearby mountains |
Governance on Waste Management
The absolute absence of governance on
waste management in rural areas in Tibet has compelled local communities to
dump or burn their domestic waste. Even the garbage collected by Environmental
Groups cleaning up nearby mountains ends up being
burnt. This is due to the state’s utter failure to provide very basic infrastructure to
its citizens. Tsering Tsomo, who recently returned from a visit to Tibet, said
there are simply no government waste-collection trucks in rural areas, and the
problem is left to deteriorate.
Feng's article also highlights the
absence of waste management in many parts of Tibet. Quoting Sangay, who founded
the Ganjia Environmental Volunteers Association in 2013, he states that a little more money and labour from the government
to build waste sorting points in villages would make greater impacts in rural
areas.
Surprisingly, Feng tries to portray the
government’s inability to provide very basic
waste management facilities as an ordinary issue. Quoting Peng Kui, a
conservation expert with the Global Environmental Institute, Feng highlights
that the lack of governance on waste management is not only restricted to rural
areas, but also widely prevalent in cities and county-level
towns. He states that there is simply no
spare funding for waste management in townships and villages.
This is absurd. China is the world’s second largest economy which continues to grow
rapidly. The Chinese government has deployed hundreds of thousands of security
personals across Tibet and funds the world most expensive network of roads,
known as the “Belt and Road Initiative.” Since the garbage problem in Tibet is in an early
stage, only a fraction of that cost and manpower could fix it.
*Conclusion
Feng's interest in the waste issue in
Tibet is seemingly stimulated by my earlier article. But much of his writing is presumably
influenced by the tight surveillance he might have encountered while
travelling in Tibet. Despite the apparent difficulty of investigating the real
causes of the garbage problem in Tibet, such articles will likely alarm the
Chinese government into action to protect Tibet from garbage inundation.
The vast Tibetan Plateau,
standing at an average elevation of more than 4,000 meters above sea level, is
not only the world’s highest plateau but
is also the source of Asia’s largest
rivers. Any damage done to this majestic
plateau will have catastrophic repercussions for Tibet, China and the world.
Currently there is a massive public
effort underway in Tibet, but a feasible solution is not possible without
strong government support.
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