Gyama Mine in Tibet On the Global Conflict Mine Map

Here we have re-posted an Interview we gave to Daniela, appeared on EJOLT. This is not only a detailed interview but it also facilitated in putting Gyama Mine Disaster on the Global Map as Conflict Mine. 

-----

Posted on EJOLT or Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade. 

Chinese Growth Fueled by Environmental Destruction in Tibet

September 7th, 2015

By Daniela Del Bene (ICTA, UAB).

“The number of Tibetans setting themselves ablaze is increasing at an alarming rate. […] In addition to several political, social, religious and economic factors, the impact of mining and environmental pollution has been one of the major causes that drive fiery protests across Tibet”; an article from 2013 by the Research Office of the Environment and Development Desk of the Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala makes in this way the connection between self-immolations and environmental distress in Tibet; “On Tuesday 20.11.12 a Tibetan in his mid-’30s […] walked up the hill to the entrance of gold mining site in Gyagar Thang, poured kerosene over his body and set himself on fire”i. According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Dharamsala, this young man wanted to denounce the hardship of local communities affected by mining operation of the Chinese companies. As in many other countries, pain caused by the deterioration of the local ecologies and the disruption of traditional ways of life leads to resistances and constructive struggles but also to extreme acts of dissent and frustration. Moreover, China’s occupation of Tibet since the 1950s opened the door to systematic exploitation of Tibet’s rich minerals (copper, gold, chromite, aluminium, iron ore, boron, lead, zinc, lithium), but also crude oil, potassium, asbestos, natural gas and coal. Pollution of water bodies and additional impacts on the territories due to hydropower stations to provide energy to the mines are aggravating living conditions. Railways and roads made access to local cultural sites and natural amenities much easier and tourism is bringing along severe cultural and environmental impacts. Also, to facilitate extraction of natural resources and to control their movements and use of resources, Chinese authorities are forcing Tibetan nomads to settle down in ad hoc built villages where they are losing their traditional practices and therefore part of their culture.

In December 2014 in Dharamsala, I discussed these issues with Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, Environment Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute. Here is a short version of our interview. Full text is available as PDF here Please also read about the conflict at the Gyama mine in the EJatlas, the first case we cover in Tibet.

-


Can you please introduce your work at the Environment and Development Desk and describe the major environmental challenges you are facing now in Tibet?

The Environment and Development Desk has been set up under the Tibetan Policy Institute; we monitor current environmental situation in Tibet, research on the impact of climate change and damage caused by human factors, and then we try to disseminate an unbiased and true information about the global significance of the Tibetan Plateau and its current state of environment to the international community and governments. For Tibetans, environment issue is one of the most urgent tasks. His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) once said that political issue could wait but not environment. Since Tibetan plateau is very fragile, any major damage to its ecological state would be very difficult to restore. As Tibetans, we have a very intimate relation to nature because we believe there is presence of God everywhere, on the mountains, in the rivers, so we try to minimize the impacts as much as possible.

Things have changed ever since Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950s. Intentionally or unintentionally, there have been lots of environmental damages in the Tibetan areas under Chinese rule. China has already built railway lines, which makes mining much easier, cheaper and profitable. Then, they have constructed many hydropower stations that are indispensable for mining. Often, investors in these mining companies are central and provincial government officials. So every time local communities resist, they are first asked to just go away; if they insist, the companies try to convince that it’s meant for community’s development; if they still meet opposition, they try to divide the community and bribe members; lastly, they just deploy police forces to brutally repress resistance (by tear gas, rubber bullets, or opening fire). We managed to document at least 20 big protests against mining since 2009, although there could be many more. Such news will never come up in the Chinese media, so locals have no option but to send such information out to the world at great risk. So it’s very important for us to make this information known to the outside world and the Chinese government, the world has a responsibility to act. Local governments and mining companies always operate in collaboration and are far too powerful actors.

-What does mining entail for Tibetan people living in that area? What kind of resettlement policies is put in place?

To accelerate mining in Tibetan areas Tibetan nomads have to be removed from such areas; Chinese government introduced policies to completely resettle Tibetan nomads into poorly planned concentrated village, so that mining companies could have a free hand in the vast resource rich grassland at the cost of Tibetan nomads. So, we can say it’s another type of displacement, not from a precise spot to which you have official entitlement but from a whole area and way of life.

But it’s not only mining; tourism in Tibet is expanding fast but is concentrated in a few areas during a very short summer season, with massive numbers. Recently, China has built routes for tourists to visit sacred lakes and important environmental sites; such action would hurt both people and the land. But this kind of tourism creates very little wealth and job for the local Tibetans; most of the tourists in Tibet are Chinese. They mostly book travel packages through a Chinese Travel Agencies who books Chinese hotels to stay, a Chinese driver for local travel and a Chinese guide, and mostly eat in a Chinese restaurant.

-Your work in documenting socio-environmental resistances in Tibet is quite unique. Can you recall any interesting case you learnt about and their outcomes?

The most known case is probably a copper mine closed to Lhasa, called Gyama (in Chinese, Jiama) Copper Gold Polymetallic Mine, in an area rich in copper, zinc, lead, lithium. The mine was once declared as a model mine by the Chinese government. How ironic that the Tibetan communities around it have been protesting for over 5 years now as the mine brought disruption to the nomadic life on the mountains in that valley. It also caused river water pollution. Most notably the massive mine induced landslides in 2013 that killed more than 80 workers in the same mine. Though the Chinese government claims that the landslide was due to natural factors and not caused by the Gyama mine, we at the Environment Desk have strong evidence to prove that the 2013 landslide was caused by mismanagement of the mine.
Further details, stories and anecdotes are included in the FULL INTERVIEW (PDF).

For more information:
*Gyama Mine conflict in the EJAtlas
*Environment and Development Desk, http://tibet-edd.blogspot.com.es/
*Shielding the Mountains documentary movie, directed by Kunga Lama. Produced by Emily Yeh.
*Tibet Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, “Imposing Modernity with Chinese Characteristics”, Dharamsala 2011
*Jampel Dell’Angelo, The sedentarization of Tibetan nomads: conservation or coercion?, p. 309-332 in H. Healy et al, Ecological Economics from the Ground Up, Routledge, London, 2012.
*“We are here to stay”, a LAMCA-EJOLT documentary movie
*Leah Temper, Daniela del Bene and Joan Martinez-Alier. 2015. Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas. Journal of Political Ecology.http://jpe.library.arizona.edu/volume_22/Temper.pdf


i http://tibet.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/AR-Gyama-9-April.pdf

i Tsering Dhundup “Scarring the land, scraping the wounds”, available at: http://www.india-seminar.com/2013/644/644_tsering_dhundup.htm

Massive Exploitation of Mineral Resources Caused Mining Disaster in Tibet: CTA report

Last week, Environment and Development Desk (EDD) issued a press statement refuting Chinese government's claim that the landslide in Gyama mine was a "natural disaster".  EDD expressed its fear that this tragic incident could be a result of the aggressive expansion and large-scale exploitation of mineral in the Gyama Valley—a man-made phenomenon rather than just a ‘natural disaster’.

Today, Central Tibetan Administration issued the following press release about the "Assessment Report of the Recent Devastating Landslide in Gyama Valley" prepared by EDD. The report dwell in great detail about the possible man-made cause of the event that claimed at least 83 lives.

Press Release

April 10, 2013

Central Tibet Administration has enough evidence to prove that Gyama (Jiama) mining tragedy is man-made disaster

LANDSLIDE IN GYAMA MINE: Natural or Man-made?

The tragic incident of landslide could be a result of the aggressive expansion and large-scale exploitation of mineral in the Gyama Valley. The tragedy could have been averted.

On Friday, 30 March 2013, China’s official media reported that 83 miners including two Tibetans have been buried after a major landslide hit a part of the Gyama (Ch: Jiama) Copper Polymetallic Mine. So far, the rescue efforts have failed to find any survivors and the chances of survival for those buried are getting slim.  This is a sad and unfortunate incident that resulted in large number of casualties that could be higher than reported. Environment and Development Desk (EDD) fear that this tragic incident could be a result of the aggressive expansion and large-scale exploitation of mineral in the Gyama Valley—a man-made phenomenon rather than just a ‘natural disaster’.

Tibetans Forcibly Removed to Make way for Mining Development

 

Chinese government in Lhasa forcefully removed Tibetan families from their ancestor homes in Lhundup (Ch: Lhunzhub) county of Lhasa municipality, in so called Tibetan Autonomous Region to make way for an extensive mining in the region.

Pile of ore deposits at the mining site in Lhundup County

EDD discusses Mining in Tibet

EDD head Mr. Tenzin Norbu was invited by Voice of America to discuss the rise of under regulated mining in Tibet and its impact on Tibetan society, economy, and environment.

Here is the video of the discussion:

Corporate Social Responsibility in Tibet and China

By Tushar Gupta*

What is Corporate Social responsibility?

In the world of enterprise, the main “responsibility” for corporations has historically been to make money and increase shareholder value. In other words, corporate financial responsibility has been the driving force. However, in the last decade, a movement defining broader corporate responsibilities for the environment, for local communities, for working conditions, and for ethical practices has gathered momentum. This new driving force is known as corporate social responsibility (CSR).

While there is no universal definition of corporate social responsibility, it generally refers to transparent business practices that are based on ethical values, compliance with legal requirements, and respect for people, communities, and the environment. Thus, beyond making profits, companies are responsible for the totality of their impact on people and the planet (Sir Geoffrey Chandler, 2001). Nowadays stakeholders expect that companies should be more environmentally and socially responsible in conducting their business.

Resource Extraction and Deforestation in Tibet

Tibet’s elevation has produced a unique, resource-rich geology. The Indo-Eurasian plate collision that began 55 million years ago and resultant compression of the Plateau, has led to the formation of suture (weak) zones where magma from beneath erupt onto surface to form volcanic rocks. These suture zones are highly rich in minerals of various types prominent among them are chromium, copper, gold, lithium etc.

The unchecked mining operations in Tibet have been a major cause for environmental degradation since 1960s. Extraction of mineral ores and natural resources (chromium, salt, copper, silver, coal, gold, lithium, lead, zinc, asbestos, oil, gas, magnesium, potash and uranium) has been vigorously carried out by the Chinese government to fuel its growing economy and to lessen its dependence on costly imports. 

Tibetan Resistance to Destructive Mining in Tibet?

Earlier this year, China announced that they would set up three major mineral bases in Tibet in the next five years, following discoveries of critically important/rich reserves worth of USD 100 billion in the Plateau. The bases would be set up in the Lhasa City, Lhokha and Chamdo Prefectures.

But this is just a part of the menacing story of China's full-scale exploitation of Tibet. In 2005, Chinese geologists from the China Geological Survey Bureau boasted the success of the seven-year-long geological survey that looked for mineral resources prospecting and environmental investigation on the Tibetan Plateau. The survey is believed to have found 5,000 mineral deposits on the Plateau. It estimated 30 million tons could be extracted from copper reserves; 40 million tons from lead and zinc reserves, and 1 billion tons from iron ore reserves. More specifically, geologists have discovered 600 new sites of copper, iron, lead and zinc ore deposits along the route of the railway line.