As Asia’s water tower, Tibet supplies water to 1.8 billion people downstream who depend on the healthy flow of the major rivers that come from its glacial peaks. This water sustains these communities, but China’s control of Tibet puts these rivers in Beijing’s hands – and Beijing’s decisions stand to trigger disastrous consequences.
Future downstream harm is not all that is at stake. Already, Chinese Communist Party’s unfettered dam building and other poor environmental tactics have displaced Tibetan communities, destroyed religious sites, and degraded local ecosystems.
With this important dynamic in mind, the International Campaign for Tibet hosted a special panel at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden on Tibet’s potential as a key to unlocking regional peace and prosperity.
World Water Week
World Water Week is a leading global water conference focused on water cooperation, peace and security. This year’s theme is Bridging Borders: Water for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future. It calls on participants to recognize the global interconnectivity of communities and nations and underscores the need for collaborative efforts.
In Tibet, the need for real collaboration between governments and local communities is urgent, with glaciers melting at an accelerating rate and the region identified as a hot spot for water scarcity.
Threats to Tibet’s water resources are mounting. Climate change, an expansive hydropower dam network, extractive industries, and grassland degradation block sustainable water management.
“This special panel bringing together indigenous voices and scientists to ensure the crucial nature of Tibet’s water is fully understood, as well as the availability of evidence-based tools to build collaborative solutions. Centering Tibet is even more critical now, as China’s occupation and isolation of Tibet makes Tibet a global blind spot which puts at risk the lives and livelihoods of 1.8 billion people downstream. We hope the panel will bring this situation to the world stage and inspire concrete action,” said International Campaign for Tibet President Tencho Gyatso.
ICT panel
ICT’s special panel featured Palmo Tenzin from ICT-Germany, Dr. Marina Mautner (Stockholm Environment Institute), and Pat Joe, a First Nation, a teacher, mother and grandmother from the Tagish Nation, the Dak’laweide Clan (Killer Whale and Wolf Crest) of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation.
Ms. Tenzin highlighted the numerous challenges facing water sustainability for Tibet and 1.8 billion downstream residents and outlined the traditional Tibetan knowledge and practices that can help build vitality and resiliency in the Tibetan land and water.
Dr. Mautner of the Stockholm Environment Institute provided insights into the possibilities and benefits of evidence-based tools and participatory processes for water planning – including monitoring and sustainable water allocation – in conflict regions.
Pat Joe from the Dak’laweide Clan (Killer Whale and Wolf Crest) shared her experiences of the damage to her people from colonialism, the battle to gain native title claim and value of drawing on indigenous knowledge to co-manage traditional lands and resources.
ICT’s Franz Matzner moderated the session.