FREE TIBET CAMPAIGN
(formerly known as Tibet Support Group.UK)
9 Islington Green, London N1 2XH
Phone 44 (0)171 359 7573
Fax 44 (0)171 354 1026
e.mail: tibetsupport@gn.apc.org
Contact: Lorne Stockman
Free Tibet Campaign, London, UK
Press Release November 1, 1996
For Immediate Release
IUCN passes first ever resolution on Tibetan Environment
Unprecedented co-operation between Chinese government delegation and International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet.
In a first for Tibet campaigners a Chinese government delegation has come to the table to negotiate a resolution concerning Tibet's environment.
Lake Yamdrok Tso, just south of the Tibetan capital Lhasa is the site of a massive hydro-electric power plant. Concerns for the survival of the sacred lake and the people and wildlife that depend on it have for the first time ever bought to the negotiating table a Tibetan NGO and a Chinese government delegation to hammer out a resolution backed by the World Conservation Congress (IUCN).
At the first conference of the IUCN since the Rio 'Earth Summit', the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet (ICLT) succeeded in passing a resolution that calls upon the Chinese government to strengthen their efforts of co-operation with the international community in the exchange of conservation information, to establish a nature reserve at Yamdrok Tso, and to make use of the IUCN's expertise in performing Environmental Impact Assessments especially in the field of biological resources conservation.
With the backing of Friends of the Earth International, The Wilderness Society of Australia and other leading conservation organisations, ICLT managed to get the Chinese to agree to measures that have previously been impossible to negotiate when dealing with a sensitive area such as Tibet. It is hoped that this will be a major step forward in addressing the many environmental concerns in Tibet.
The construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the Yamdrok Tso lake south west of Lhasa is the most destructive of all development projects in progress on the Tibetan plateau today. The project aims to drain a natural lake by placing the turbines in tunnels bored into the mountain sides surrounding the lake. The fragile balance of the lake's ecology is severely threatened by the unnatural interference with the lake's water flow and with it the livelihood of the local people as well as the wildlife that flourishes around this lake. Migrating waterfowl, which rely on the lake's rich food resources to sustain them on the difficult journey across the Tibetan plateau and the world's highest mountains - the Himalayas - are particularly threatened.
It is widely felt that Tibetans stand to gain little or nothing from the plant. It will almost certainly cater primarily to the growing numbers of Chinese settlers in Tibet, and to economic projects which will only marginally help the Tibetans, but which will expand the infrastructure for even greater numbers of immigrants. The greatest demand for electricity in the TAR comes from the Chinese immigrant population and the industries they are developing.
The issue of the development of the Yamdrok Tso lake for the generation of electricity and the final use of that power for the development of industries around Lhasa ties in to the larger issues of Tibetan rights over natural resources, respect for the religious sanctity of sacred sites (all Tibetan lakes are considered sacred by Tibetans) and the question of development within Tibet that benefits only Chinese settlers. The provision of power by the Yamdrok Tso project complements the Chinese strategy of population transfer by provision of power for economic development. The influx of Chinese settlers into Tibet constitutes an enourmous threat to the stability and the political and economic integrity of the region. The Free Tibet Campaign worked with ICLT in gathering co-sponsorship for the resolution and has published a report called "Death of a Sacred Lake' which highlights the issues at Yamdrok Tso, available on request. The full text of the resolution is available on request.
