Dharamsala: CTA President Dr Lobsang Sangay’s address on the strategic importance of Tibet’s environment garnered massive media coverage in Guwahati. President Dr Sangay visited Guwahati last weekend to deliver a memorial lecture at the Eastern Himalayas Naturenomics Forum organised by Balipara Foundation.
Dr Sangay emphasised on the deteriorating environment of Tibet and how its repercussion would be felt much beyond the Himalayas. “The effects of jet stream over the Tibetan plateau on the climate of Europe and North America is a constant reminder that Tibet’s environment matters to the world and that the Tibet issue is not just the issue of the six million Tibetans,” said Dr Sangay.
Dr. Sangay highlighted the environmental significance of Tibet as the repository of 46,000 glaciers and as the largest concentration of ice on earth after the Arctic and the Antarctica.
“As a source of Asia’s major rivers, Tibet has long quenched the thirst and needs of the world’s populous countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Asian countries,” reiterated President Dr Sangay.
Stressing on the growing scarcity of water around the world, Dr Sangay pointed to a premonition whereby China’s monopolisation of Tibet rivers which would further aggravate water scarcity in the downstream countries. He further urged the International community to raise their voice for the Tibetans.
Elucidating that the Tibetan way of life guided by the Buddhist principle of interdependence has long led a sustainable relation with the environment, Dr Sangay stressed that the Tibetans should be the stewards of the Tibetan plateau and Tibetans must have a say in the development projects carried out in Tibet.