{"id":2118,"date":"2018-09-20T10:42:02","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T05:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tibetnature.lhasocialwork.com\/en\/?p=2118"},"modified":"2018-09-27T10:50:45","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T05:20:45","slug":"climate-change-battery-boom-threatens-life-roof-world-tibetan-plateau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/climate-change-battery-boom-threatens-life-roof-world-tibetan-plateau\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change, battery boom threatens life on the \u2018roof of the world\u2019 \u2014 the Tibetan Plateau"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10242308-3x2-700x467\"<\/strong>Climate change is sometimes discussed as a problem of the future, but on the \u201croof of the world\u201d, it has already arrived.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>The remote, icy plains of the Tibetan Plateau \u2014 the highest and largest plateau on the planet \u2014 cover a massive 25 per cent of China\u2019s landmass.It plays an important role \u2014 it contains the largest supply of fresh water outside the polar regions, and gives birth to some of Asia\u2019s most legendary rivers.<\/p>\n

From the Mekong and the Ganges to the Yangtze and the Yellow River, it has nourished civilisations, sustained ecosystems, and inspired religions.<\/p>\n

Today it is a lifeline to the estimated 1 billion people who rely on it.<\/p>\n

But that lifeline is under threat.<\/p>\n

A way of life in danger<\/strong>
\nClimate change has caused temperatures to rise on the plateau faster than anywhere else in Asia.<\/p>\n

As a result, the region\u2019s glaciers and grassland are thawing at an alarming rate.<\/p>\n

If melting continues, an estimated two-thirds of the plateau\u2019s glaciers will be gone by 2050, one scientist told the Asia Society conference in 2009.<\/p>\n

That would have a huge impact, says Tsechu Dolma, a Tibetan refugee and founder of the Mountain Resiliency Project, which aims to empower local women with agribusinesses.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Around] 1.4 billion people out of the 7 billion human population actually depend on the water that originates from Tibet,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The water] carries a lot of silt from the plateau downstream. This silt is needed for the rice paddies in South-East Asia \u2026 the food that is grown feeds the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"10241844-3x2-700x467\"Already thousands of lakes have dried up.<\/p>\n

Desert now covers one-sixth of the plateau and places which once bloomed have been reduced to sand dunes.<\/p>\n

The most vulnerable people affected, Ms Dolma says, are the traditional farmers and herders whose livelihoods depend on the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the Tibetans who live inside Tibet continue living as herders and farmers, and for a lot of them their livelihood has become very difficult with climate change,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen who gather water and firewood for cooking and eating have to travel further away from their homes, and a lot of young children and other shepherds have to travel further with their livestock to graze.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Farmers] are definitely realising how much more difficult it is for them to get food, how unpredictable the climate has been, how unpredictable the water sources have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Increased water supply is also said to have caused increased flooding and natural disasters in the area, and locals are now turning to the gods for answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are trying to use Buddhist epistemologies to understand what is happening around us,\u201d Ms Dolma says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey understand it is because of the fact that us humans, we are doing things to degrade our environment and to upset the spirits who live inside the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of these disruptions, all these tragedies are happening in the form of floods and fires.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A vicious cycle of repression and resistance\u2019<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s not the only challenge facing Tibet, a region with a long history of turmoil.<\/p>\n

While climate change is slowly transforming the landscape, so too is China, which controls the semi-autonomous region.<\/p>\n

In the late 1950s, when China sent in troops to assert its claim over Tibet, thousands of nomads were dispersed and resettled into neighbouring Chinese provinces. Others fled as refugees to Nepal and India.<\/p>\n

Human rights organisations and advocates of Tibetan self-determination have previously denounced China\u2019s rule over Tibet, claiming it has led to an eradication of culture, language and traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTibet has been under the Chinese occupation for the last 70-odd years, and for all these years there has been a vicious cycle of repression and resistance,\u201d says Kyinzom Dhongdue, a Tibetan refugee and journalist for the Times of India.<\/p>\n

Ms Dhongdue was born to Tibetan parents in India, where she is a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I have never seen the physical Tibet, [it] is very much part of who I am,\u201d says Ms Dhongdue, who is now based in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has shaped me as an individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PHOTO:<\/p>\n

PHOTO: Development in the region is endangering traditional culture and language, Ms Dhongdue says. (Getty: Kevin Frayer)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The impact of mining<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent years the Chinese Government has stepped up mining in the Tibetan Plateau, along with transmigration \u2014 a forced relocation project that moves Chinese citizens to the region.<\/p>\n

Beijing says the project will improve local herders\u2019 living standards by moving them to a less populated area.<\/p>\n

But activists say it leaves Tibet\u2019s natural resources of lead, zinc, asbestos and lithium vulnerable to exploitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese word for Tibet is called Xizang, which literally means \u2018western treasure house\u2019,\u201d Ms Dhongdue says.<\/p>\n

According to the Environmental Justice Atlas, Tibet holds 90 per cent of China\u2019s lithium reserves, and has been a big drawcard for technology companies supplying lithium-based batteries for smart phones, tablets and electric cars.<\/p>\n

But the mines are said to have caused increased pollution and villagers say that rivers once filled with fish are now empty.<\/p>\n

Ms Dhongdue says development and increased tourism in the region has also exacerbated the already dire effects of climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese Government likes to claim that they have brought a lot of development inside Tibet but it has come at a great cost,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has brought loss of a culture and the development has actually facilitated the transmigration \u2014 the influx of a huge number of Chinese migrants to the Tibetan Plateau \u2014 and further enabled the marginalisation or the disempowerment of the Tibetan people inside Tibet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt face value, if tourists are allowed to go to Tibet, they can see roads being built or schools being built.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut really at the end of the day we really have to ask the question: development on whose terms and development for whom?\u201d<\/p>\n

souce by :http:\/\/tibet.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate change is sometimes discussed as a problem of the future, but on the \u201croof of the world\u201d, it has already arrived.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The remote, icy plains of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-tibet-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2271,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions\/2271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}