Chapter 9. State of Tibet's environment
Tibet: Proving Truth from Facts
Content
- Status of Tibet
- Invasion and illegal annexation of Tibet
- National Uprising
- Traditional Tibetan society
- Human Rights
- Socio-economic conditions and colonialism
- Religion and national identity
- Population transfer and control
- State of Tibet's environment
- Militarisation and regional peace
- Quest for solution
Introduction
Tibet is the prime source of Asia's great rivers. It also has the earth's loftiest mountains as well as the world's most extensive and highest plateau, ancient forests, and many deep valleys untouched by human disturbances.
Traditional Tibetan economic and religious value systems led to the evolution of successful environmental protection practices. Their belief in the Buddhist teaching of Right Livelihood stresses the importance of "contentment" and discourages over-consumption. It also frowns upon over-exploitation of the earth's natural resources as this is perceived to harm other living beings and their habitat. As early as 1642, the Fifth Dalai Lama issued a Decree for the Protection of Animals and the Environment. Since then, such decrees have been issued annually.
With the colonisation of Tibet by Communist China, Tibet's traditional environment protection system has given way to an "ecocide" of appalling proportions. The effects of this are especially notable in the grassland areas, the cropland areas, the forests, the water resource and the wildlife.
Grassland, cropland and Chinese agricultural policies
Tibet is 70 per cent grassland. Grasslands form the backbone of the country's animal husbandry-dominated agrarian economy. The domestic animal population is as big as 70 million and supports nearly a million herdsmen.
Tibet's nomads have traditionally adapted themselves well to the needs of their fragile grasslands. Annual records of pasture use, systematic migrations of their herds of dri and yak, sheep and goats, and responsibility for sustainable use at the individual and community levels are traditional habits.
Over the last four decades there has been widespread degradation of these vital pastures. The conversion of marginal lands to agriculture for Chinese settlers has become the greatest threat to Tibet's grasslands. This has led to extensive desertification, rendering the land unusable for agriculture or grazing. This problem has especially devastated the vast grasslands in Amdo.
The situation is made worse by the fencing of grasslands which have restricted the Tibetan nomads to ever smaller areas and disrupted their traditional migration practice. In Machu district of Amdo alone, one-third of the total area of over 10,000 square kilometre has been fenced for the horses, sheep and cattle of the Chinese army. Similarly, most of the better pasture lands in Ngapa, Golok and "Qinghai" have been reserved for the Chinese. Traditionally, the principal croplands are arable niches along the river valleys of Kham, the Tsangpo valley in U-Tsang, and the Machu valley in Amdo. The staple crop is barley, grown with other cereals and legumes. The traditional agricultural system has organic principles, crop rotation, mixed crops, and periodic failures which are sustainable and appropriate to a fragile mountain environment. Grain yields in Tibet average 2,000 kg/ha in U-Tsang and higher still in the lower valleys of Amdo and Kham. This exceeds yields in comparable climates such as in Russia (1,700 kg/ha) and Canada (1,800 kg/ha).
The need to feed the ever-increasing Chinese military and civil personnel and settlers and the export of agricultural produce has led to the extension of farmland onto steep and marginal terrain, an increase in the area under wheat (which the Chinese prefer to the Tibetan staple, barley) and the introduction of hybrid seeds, pesticides and chemical fertilizer. Disease has been regularly affecting new wheat varieties, and in 1979 destroyed the entire wheat crop. Prior to the influx of millions of Chinese settlers Tibetans had no need to increase production so drastically.
Forests and deforestation
In 1949, Tibet's ancient forests covered 221,800 square kilometres. By 1985 they stood at 134,000 square kilometres almost half. Most forests grow on steep, isolated slopes in the river valleys of Tibet's low-lying southeastern region. The principal types are tropical montane and subtropical montane coniferous forest, with spruce, fir, pine, larch, cypress, birch, and oak among the main species. The tree line varies from 3,800 metres in the region's moist south to 4,300 metres in the semi- dry north. Tibet's forests were primarily old growth, with trees over 200 years old predominating. The average stock density is 272 cubic metres/ha, but U-Tsang's old growth areas reach 2,300 cubic metres/ha the world's highest stock density for conifers.
As new roads penetrate remote areas of Tibet the rate of deforestation increases. All roads, it should be noted, are built or aided by PLA or China's Forestry Ministry's teams of engineers and their costs are counted as expenditure to "develop" Tibet. Once pristine forests are reached, the most common method of cutting is clear felling, which has led to the denudation of vast hill sides. Timber extraction until 1985 totalled 2,442 million cubic metres, or 40% of the 1949 forest stock, worth $54 billion.
Deforestation is a major employer in Tibet: in the Kongpo area of the "TAR" alone, over 20,000 Chinese soldiers and Tibetan prisoners are involved in tree felling and transportation of timber. In 1949, Ngapa, in Amdo, had 2.20 million hectares of land under forest cover. Its timber reserve then stood at 340 million cubic meters. In the 1980s, it was reduced to 1.17 million hectares, with a timber reserve of only 180 million cubic meters. [Ngapa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Publishing House, 1985, pp. 149-154]. Similarly, during thirty years till 1985 China exploited 6.44 million cubic metres of timber from "Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture". Cut into a size measuring 30 centimetre wide and three metre long, and lined from end to end, this would be long enough to make two full circles round the globe. (Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu People's Publishing House, 1987, p.145)
The growing degradation and desertification of the Tibetan Plateau, unique on earth and the planet's most extensive high land form, is continuing. This area influences atmospheric circulation and jet stream wind patterns over Asia and, according to scientists, may be related to the destabilisation of weather patterns over the northern hemisphere.
Regeneration and afforestation have been minimal due to the extreme degree of land slope, soil and moisture, including high diurnal temperature variations and high soil surface temperatures. With such conditions the destructive effects of clear-felling are irreversible.
Water resource and hydropower
Tibet is Asia's principal watershed and the source of its major rivers. A substantial proportion of river flows in Tibet are stable or base flows coming from ground water and glacial sources. This is in marked contrast to river flows in most neighbouring countries, which are determined by seasonal rainfall patterns.
Ninety per cent of Tibet's river run-off flows down across its borders, internal use accounting for less than 1 per cent of total river run-off. Today Tibet's rivers have developed extremely high sediment rates: The Machu (Huang Ho, or Yellow River), the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Drichu (Yangtze), and the Senge Khabab (Indus) are among the five most heavily-silted rivers in the world. The total area irrigated by these rivers, from the Machu basin in the east to the Senge Khabab in the west, covers 47 per cent of the earth's human population. Tibet also has over 2,000 natural lakes some of which are sacred or otherwise play a special role in the people's culture with a combined area of more than 35,000 square kilometres.
Steep slopes and abundant river flows give Tibet an exploitable hydropower potential of 250,000 megawatts, the highest of any country in the world. The "TAR" alone has a potential of 200,000 megawatts.
Tibet possesses the world's highest solar energy potential per unit after the Sahara, an estimated annual average of 200 kilocalorie/cm, as well as significant geothermal resources. Despite such abundant potential from small, environmentally- benign sources, the Chinese have built huge dams, such as Longyang Xia, and are continuing to do so, such as the hydropower station at Yamdrok Yutso.
Many of these projects are designed to tap Tibet's hydro potential to provide power and other benefits to the Chinese population and industries both in Tibet and China. But the environmental, human and cultural toll of these hydro-electricity projects will be borne by the Tibetans. While the Tibetans are displaced from their homes and lands, tens of thousands of Chinese workers are brought up from China to construct and maintain these dams. These dams have very little benefit for the local Tibetans who have no say over them. Take the case of Yamdrok Yutso hydro-power project. The Chinese claim that this project will greatly benefit the Tibetans. Tibetan people in general, particularly the late Panchen Lama and Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, opposed and effectively delayed its construction for several years. The Chinese, nevertheless, went ahead with the construction and today more than 1,500-strong PLA troops are guarding the construction area and no civilians are allowed near it.
Minerals and mining
According to official Chinese sources, Tibet has proven deposits of 126 minerals, with a significant share of the world's reserves in lithium, chromite, copper, borax, and iron. Amdo's oil fields produce over one million tons of crude oil per year.
The network of roads and communications built by the Chinese in Tibet mirrors the locations of forests and mineral reserves indiscriminately exploited by the Chinese Government. With seven of China's 15 key minerals due to run out within this decade and major non-ferrous minerals virtually exhausted, the rate of mineral extraction from Tibet is rapidly increasing. It is believed that China plans to shift its major mining operations into Tibet by the end of this century. Environmental safeguards are virtually non-existent in Tibet's mines. Particularly in fragile terrains, this is leading to slope destabilisation, land degradation, and hazards to human health and life.
Wildlife
Many wild animals and birds have vanished through destruction of their habitat or have been slaughtered by indiscriminate hunting for sport and to furbish China's illicit trade in wildlife products. There have been numerous and continuing reports of Chinese soldiers using automatic weapons to wipe out herds of wild yaks and wild asses for sport.
Unrestricted hunting of wildlife continues to take place. Hunting "tours" organised for wealthy foreign clients for trophies of endangered species appear in the official Chinese news media regularly. For instance, "hunting tours" are being organised for wealthy sportsmen from the United States of America and Western Europe. These "hunters" can bag trophies of endangered species such as the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni) and the Argali sheep (Ovis ammon hodgsoni), species supposedly accorded the highest level of official protection. The hunts cost up to $35,000 for a Tibetan antelope, $23,000 for an Argali, $13,000 for a white-lipped deer (Cervus albirostris), $7,900 for a blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), and $3,500 for a red deer (Cerrus elaphus). The present scenario is likely to result in the irrevocable loss of countless Tibetan species even before they have been discovered and studied. Also, it constitutes a known threat to the very survival of species treasured in Tibetan culture and of immeasurable value to the world.
The White Paper does admit that a number of animals are "on the verge of extinction". Similarly, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 1990 Red List of Endangered Animal Species mentions 30 Tibetan animals.
Chinese conservation measures for Tibet, except for areas now merged into Chinese provinces, were initiated long after similar efforts in China itself. Declared protected areas are said to cover 310,000 sq.km. or approximately 12 per cent of Tibet by 1991 end. The effectiveness of protection cannot be measured because of China's strictly limited access, plus secrecy concerning actual data.
Nuclear and other toxic wastes
China is reported to have stationed approximately 90 nuclear warheads in Tibet. The Ninth Academy, China's North-west Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy in Tibet's north-eastern area of Amdo, is reported to have dumped an unknown quantity of radioactive waste on the Tibetan plateau.
According to a report released by International Campaign for Tibet, a Wastington, DC- based organisation:
Waste disposal methods were reported to be casual in the extreme. Initially, waste was put in shallow, unlined landfills ... The nature and quantity of radioactive waste generated by the Ninth Academy is still unknown. ... During the 1960s and 1970s, nuclear waste from the facility was disposed of in a roughshod and haphazard manner. Nuclear waste from the Academy would have taken a variety of forms liquid slurry, as well as solid and gaseous waste. Liquid or solid waste would have been in adjacent land or water sites. [Nuclear Tibet, Washington, DC, 1993, p.18]
Official Chinese pronouncements have confirmed the existence in Tibet of the biggest uranium reserves in the world. Reports say that uranium is processed in Tibet itself and that many local Tibetans died after drinking contaminated water near a uranium mine in Ngapa, Amdo.
The local Tibetans have also reported the birth of deformed humans and animals. Given the fact that underground water supplies in Amdo have been diminishing at a rapid rate, and useable underground water is very limited (a report estimated underground water reserve at 340 to 4.0 billion cubic feet, He Bochuan, pp.39), radioactive contamination of groundwater is of great concern. Since 1976 uranium has been mined and processed in Thewo and Zorge regions of Kham also.
In 1991, Greenpeace exposed plans to ship toxic municipal sludge from the USA to China for use as "fertilizer" in Tibet. The use of similar toxic waste as fertilizer in the USA has been linked to outbreaks of diseases.
Conclusion
Tibet's complex environmental problems cannot be addressed by cosmetic changes like designating swathes of land as nature reserves or making laws for the people when the real perpetrator of environmental damage is the Government itself. There should be political will on the part of the Chinese leadership to restore rights to environment to the Tibetan people and allow them to follow their traditional conservationist practices.
In keeping with the vision of the Dalai Lama, all of Tibet should be transformed into a zone of peace where humans and nature can dwell in harmonious coexistence. Such a Tibet, as the Dalai Lama said, should be completely demilitarised and must have a democratic form of government and an economic system that ensures the sustainable use of the country's natural resources to provide a decent standard of living for its people.
Ultimately, this is in the long-term interest of all the neighbouring countries as environmental conditions in Tibet have major transboundary effects, notably in India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Nearly half of the global population, particularly in these four countries, depend on the rivers of Tibet for their sustenance. Some of the major floods in these countries during the last decade have been attributed to deforestation-related siltation of Tibet's rivers. The destructive potential of these rivers increases each year as China continues the deforestation and uranium-related activities on the Roof of the World.
China acknowledges "pollution in several sections of rivers". Since hydrological flows respect no international borders, it should be a cause of concern for Tibet's neighbouring countries who have the right to know which of their own rivers are polluted, how and by what. Unless an urgent action is taken now to stop this, the rivers of Tibet, which have brought joy and sustenance, may one day bring death and destruction.
