Bonn, Nov 8 – The 23rd Conference of parties (COP23) or the UN Climate Change Conference began with a strong, unified calls to hold to the path of Paris Climate Change agreement. The COP23 is the world’s biggest gathering on climate change negotiation to combat global temperature rise.
The two-week conference (6-17, November 2017) will be attended by head of states, government delegates, climate scientist, environmental researchers and environment activist from across the globe.
There are two Tibetan delegates among more than twenty thousand participants converged in Bonn for the two weeks (6-17, November 2017) climate summit.
The Tibetan delegates, Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen and Dechen Palmo are both environment research fellows at the Tibet Policy Institute. They are here to contribute to the success of the UN climate negotiation by highlighting the global significance of the Tibetan Plateau and its current environmental situation.
According to the papers produced by the Tibetan delegates at the climate summit states that the Tibetan Plateau is not only the world’s highest and largest plateau but its also home to the earth’s third largest store of ice and head source of world’s major rivers.
The purpose of the two-week meeting led by Fiji is to negotiate and outline how to implement the Paris agreement on climate change signed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015 in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emission and help poorer countries adapt to an already changed planet.
Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC lauded the fact that there are 169 countries that have already ratified the Paris Agreement in her opening speech at the conference. She also stated that these negotiations to be the next essential steps that ensure that Paris Agreement’s structure is completed, its impact is strengthened, and its goals achieved.
Like the tiny host island Nation of Fiji, Tibet also witnessed an unprecedented number of natural disasters since 2016 due to extreme temperature rise and unregulated development activities. So the extreme impact of climate change impact on the Tibetan plateau is already happening and could only get worse in the future. “So highlighting the unprecedented number of natural disasters, such as floods and landslides in Tibet in the last two years will be our main focus at this conference. We want the world to know the extreme impact of climate change on the Tibetan plateau,” said Zamlha Tempa Gyaltsen.
“World’s largest and most important rivers originate from the Tibetan plateau, sustaining life in the ten most densely populated nations on earth. so the world can no longer ignore what is happening on the Tibetan Plateau,” added Dechen Palmo.
As per a 10-Point Call to Action for Tibet produced by the Tibetan delegates, they call on
1). The Chinese government to make a sincere effort in protecting Tibet’s environment.
2). The riparian countries (regions depend on Tibetan rivers) to collectively work for the protection of Tibet’s rivers
3). The international community and the United Nations to make Tibet central to any climate negotiation and hear Tibetan voice in any global climate discussions.
The two delegate will also highlight His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s strong commitment on environment protection and His Holiness’s immense effort on environmental protection by gifting a book titled ‘Dalai Lama on Environment’ to the relevant UN climate delegates at the conference.
Beside raising Tibet’s environmental issues at the UN conference, the two delegates are also invited by the Association of Tibetans in Germany to give a talk on Tibet’s environment to the Tibetan community in Bonn on November 12, 2017.
– Report filed by Environment and Development Desk, Tibet Policy Institute –
Delegates at COP 23 in Bonn, Germany.