The global cost of China's destruction of the 'roof of the world'

Much has been written about Tibet under Chinese rule: the religious persecution, the population transfer, the ongoing suffering of the Tibetan people, but I wish to draw attention to the environmental damage the Chinese have inflicted on the plateau.  This is a matter that concerns us all. In the same way that the damage to the rain forest affects the people of the entire planet so the damage to the Tibetan plateau has consequences for peoples far beyond the Tibetan borders.

During the sixty years of Chinese occupation there has been an ongoing mass damming programme on the many rivers flowing from the Tibetan plateau. The Indus, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Yangtze, Yellow, Salween, Brahmaputra, Karnali and Sutlej all rise in Tibet. The tributaries of these rivers are vital to millions of people on the Asian continent and sustain the life of, it is estimated, 47 per cent of the world population. The rivers flow into ten countries: China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Recent severe floods in Pakistan, China and Bangladesh has been attributed to the damming of rivers on the plateau.

Parts of southern and eastern Tibet are home to some of the best...

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