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TRIN-GYI-PHO-NYA: Tibet's Environment & Development
Digest
January, 2005, Vol. 2, No. 6
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Trin-Gyi-Pho-Nya
Index
of Past Issues
| I. Editorial: Designing
Modernization To Promote Traditional Tibetan Medicine Tibetan medicine has become a lucrative business yielding million-dollar profits to large pharmaceutical companies in China. Various new policies have been instituted to standardize the production and distribution of Tibetan medicinal products, mainly for commercial and bureaucratic reasons. These new policies are proving to be a debilitating legal framework for the persevering practitioners of the unique Buddhist healing tradition. According to a study, there are 75 pharmaceutical companies dealing with Tibetan medicine in various corners of the Tibetan Plateau, out of which 30 are run by Tibetans. While the spiritual guidelines of making medicine according to the Buddhist medical texts – Gyushi – are increasingly compromised with the onslaught of industrial production of Tibetan medicine, an interesting issue that comes to point is regarding the efficacy of the healing powers of these medicine. “Amchi (Tibetan doctor) makes medicine to heal the patient but the pharmaceutical companies make medicine to reap profits,” explained a concerned Tibetan doctor from Amdo (now incorporated in Qinghai Province). New government regulations require all Tibetan doctors to go through a cumbersome registration process. When approved, they are allowed to sell medicine, but only to their private patients. Rinchen-Tsotru-Dashel, a pill that normally costs 20 yuan, is now being sold for 50 yuan by pharmaceutical companies. “Soon, we will be barred from producing these medicines as Chinese companies are gaining patents over different Tibetan medicines,” said the doctor. To the Tibetan people, the long-term issues involve the survival of this centuries-old healing tradition, as well as the access members of the community have to the tradition. Surely the ultimate subversion of the Tibetan medical tradition would be if the Tibetan people themselves were forced to purchase medicine invented by their own culture and made from their own land, at a higher cost, and from a Chinese company because of a contrived patent system set-up to benefit large industries to the exclusion of local practitioners. Commercialization of Tibetan medicine also has environmental consequences. Most of Tibetan medicine’s plant ingredients are rare herbs that are endemic to Tibet’s high mountains. Currently, there are no mechanisms in place to check indiscriminate harvesting of these species. The commercialization of Tibetan medicine has dramatically increased demands for these ingredients, resulting in the widespread, unsustainable removal of certain plant species. Utpal Ngonpo (Blue poppy, meconopsis sp.), marketed as a cure for Hepatitis B by Chinese companies, is one such rare plant species that the Tibetan doctor fears might not survive if the current rate of harvesting continues. The challenge for policy makers in China is not just the integration
Tibetan medicine into the mainstream economy and modes of production,
but also the preservation and promotion of a unique tradition of
medical knowledge and expertise. While greater access to, and availability
of, Tibetan medicine is a worthwhile goal, it will mean very little
if the tradition which produced it is swallowed up and destroyed
in the process.
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| II. Op-ed: Climate Change as a Human Rights
Issue for Subsistence-Based Societies By Julia Klein In December 2004, a meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in anticipation of the upcoming entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the Inuit -- 155,000 seal-hunting peoples scattered around the Arctic -- announced they were preparing a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stating that the United States, by contributing substantially to global warming, is threatening their existence. The Inuit people's lives and culture depend upon the Arctic ice. Scientists have concluded that climate change caused predominantly by human influences is causing that ice to melt and causing other impacts to the Inuit way of life. In their petition, the Inuit assert that because the United States is responsible for 25% or more of the greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to climate change, the United States has an international obligation to prevent these human rights violations. The Inter-American Commission will forward the petition to the United States, which is the respondent, hold a series of hearings on the matter and determine whether this constitutes a violation of human rights. Just as the Inuit rely on the arctic ice for their subsistence, Tibetan pastoralists depend on the alpine rangelands of the Tibetan Plateau for their survival. The pastoralists rely on the rangeland vegetation to convert the sun's energy into products - via domestic herbivores - that form the basis of their culture and subsistence. These products include food, clothing, housing, fuel, stored wealth, and transportation. The Tibetans also directly rely on vegetation for goods such as medicinal plants and other products. Scientists, range managers and development personnell working on the Tibetan Plateau have primarily ignored issues of climate warming effects on the Tibetan rangelands. Rather, they have focused on the Tibetan rangelands with respect to grazing issues. The Tibetan rangeland debate is often couched in terms of whether the Tibetans are "rational" or "irrational" land managers, whether animal densities are increasing or decreasing on the Tibetan Plateau, the merits and drawbacks of fencing and sedentarization, and the effects of small mammal grazing on the rangelands. While most of these issues are very important, they should be studied in the context of a changing underlying climatic condition. These topics also highlight the propensity for scientists, range managers and development personnell working on the Tibetan Plateau to observe rangeland degradation, observe grazing animals (or fences or small mammals), and make a causal connection between the two based on observation rather than a valid scientific analysis of cause and effect. While very little research has been conducted on how climate warming may affect ecosystem goods and services on the Tibetan Plateau, work has recently been published in the scientific literature (Klein et al. 2004) that shows climate warming could cause as much as a 36% decline in plant species diversity on the northeastern region of the Tibetan Plateau. This includes declines in medicinal plant species and palatable forage species richness. This work also indicates warming could reduce overall vegetative productivity and increase shrub encroachment in this region of the Tibetan Plateau (Klein 2003). There is a consensus among the scientific community that much of the present climate warming on Earth is due to human activities (IPCC 2001). According to the New York Times, the United States was the only country at the climate meetings in Buenos Aires which continues to question the climate change science. There is also evidence that climate warming is occurring on the Tibetan Plateau (Thompson et al. 2000). China, which ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1992, is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but per capita emissions of global warming pollutants in China are just 15 percent of U.S. levels. China accepted no mandatory greenhouse gas emissions target under the Protocol -- only developed countries are subject to binding emission targets in the Kyoto Protocol's first emission control period, 2008 to 2012. Climate warming is an unusual environmental problem because the primary actors driving the changes can be far removed from the most vulnerable recipients of the climate change effects. This large spatial disconnect between drivers and recipients is due to the nature of greenhouse gases, which mix relatively rapidly in the atmosphere across the globe. The Inuit people can assert their rights in the international arena because there has been careful documentation of climate change in the arctic, because the ecological and social impacts of climate change on the Inuit people have been rigorously studied for over a decade, and because supporters of the Inuit people recognize the links between politics, human rights and climate change. The Tibetan pastoralists, who are potentially highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, will also need to rely on rigorous science and an interested community to assert their rights to a resource base that is being affected by anthropogenic climate changes and to bring this issue to the attention of the international community. References cited: [*Julia Klein is a NOAA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory of Colorado State University, and can be reached via e-mail at jklein@cnr.colostate.edu]
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III. Western Route Water Transfer Project
Should Be Reconsidered The Western Route Transfer Project, or simply "the
Western Route," is the most expensive and difficult route of
the worlds longest and most ambitious water transfer project - South-North
Water Diversion Project. The Western Route involves diverting waters
from the headwaters of Drichu (Yangtze River) into Machu (Yellow
River) through a number of large dams and a series of aqueducts
and tunnels. Following is an abridged version of critical essay
on the project. Researchers are advised to refer to the original
Chinese article for more accurate information. Also refer to our
last
update on the project. Water Availability Environmental Implications The Western Route of South-North Water Diversion Project will worsen the deteriorating environmental conditions in the upper Yangtze River area, adversely affecting the regeneration capacity of the local ecosystems. If water diversion is actually implemented, it will destroy the threatened ecosystem forever and increase soil erosion and desertification in the area. Seismic Dangers Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC)'s report has pointed out the geological difficulties and dangers faced in construction of west route including the earthquake belt, but YRCC has not found any workable solution and measurements for this difficulty and danger. According to current plans, 508 kilometers of aqueducts and 490 kilometers of tunnels will be constructed above this earthquake belt. A total reservoir area of 397 square kilometers lie above the fault line. Cost/Benefit Analysis Need for Scientific and Democratic Decision Making The Western Route water transfer project is planned to solve water shortage problem of Yellow River by diverting water from upper Yangtze River. In terms of feasibility, economic effectiveness and efficiency of the plan, there are still many unsolved problems. The project lacks scientific research and evaluation. Therefore, the plan for the Western Route needs thorough reevaluation before implementation.
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| IV. IV. Earthquake warning system for dams
a priority: experts By Ray Cheung (Source: South China Morning Post. 4 January 2005. Courtesy: Kevin Li) Mainland environmentalists have launched a petition urging the government to fast-track the establishment of an earthquake warning system in the southwest. They said it would help prevent a human disaster such as the Asian tsunami triggered by the recent Indonesian earthquake. A geological warning network was critical to protect the public amid plans to build a series of massive dams in the region for hydroelectric power projects, they added. Premier Wen Jiabao had recently ordered the appropriate agencies to establish such a system, environmentalists said. At a time when China is developing the southwest's water resources, there must be an adherence to Premier Wen Jiabao's order in which an earthquake warning network and forecasting system for current and future large-scale water resources protection be established, they said. The petition [was] signed by six environmental groups including Green Earth Volunteers, Friends of Nature and the Global Village of Beijing, and individuals including a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. They also called for a stricter assessment of the vulnerability to earthquakes of all proposed dam projects in the region. The southwest, particularly the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province, is home to some of the mainland's largest watersheds, including the Lancang [Zachu], Nujiang [Gyalmo Ngulchu], and Jinsha [Drichu] rivers. To meet the nation's surging energy demands, the central and local governments have announced plans to build a series of controversial dam projects on the waterways. Citing the Nujiang as an example, the petitioners said the authorities had only managed to produce a half-page report on the project's earthquake risks, as part of its environmental impact assessment. The project's opponents have warned that the dams will not only
destroy the pristine environment, but also be vulnerable to the
area's frequent earthquakes, which could spell disaster. - top of page -
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| VI. News-in-Brief (Prepared by Thupten Norbu*) 1. China decides to dam its last free-flowing
river, Nu Jiang According to new information, China will go ahead with the construction of Liuku Dam, the first of the 13 dams planned on Salween River (Gyalmo Ngulchu in Tibetan, Nu Jiang in Chinese) in the year 2005. The project was earlier suspended due to an unprecedented intervention from China's Premier, Wen Jiabao, in response to the efforts of Chinese civil society leaders and press reporters to save "China's last free-flowing river." The project also attracted downstream international concerns, as well as from the UN -- nine of the three dams fall within the UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the 13 dams will be constructed in Tibetan inhabited area, Songta. Songta dam will be the tallest (307 meters) and the northern-most of the 13 dams and is expected to displace more than 3,600 people. According to Interfax, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) invited experts to a consultative conference on the environmental impact of the Nu hydropower project. However, the proceedings and outcome of the conference has not been released. Local civil society leaders are calling for a "peoples hearing" to ensure public participation in project governance. 2. Accounting Non-cash Incomes of Tibetan Farmers and Herders People's Daily reported that the per capita cash income of farmers and herdsmen in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) increased to 1,035 yuan ($124.6) by the end of September this year, an increase of 187 yuan or 22 percent from last year. It is predicted that the net income of farmers and herdsmen would reach 1,850 yuan as a result of fast developing industries in farming and pastoral areas and structural adjustment in agricultural and animal husbandry. However, these official Chinese statistics do not account for the major portion of local people's income. According to development economist Andrew Fischer, "the 22 percent increase refers to an increase in cash income, not the total income of farmers and herders. Total income includes an estimate for non-cash income, such as agricultural output that farmers and herders consume themselves or barter. The cash component, which up to very recently has been a small share of total rural incomes in the TAR, deflects attention from the slow growth in the more traditional activities of farming and herding. Given that rural industry in the TAR is extremely limited, most of the increase in cash income is probably due to efforts by the government since 2002 to increase the participation of rural Tibetans in various construction projects as a means to supply off-farm employment. It is unlikely that the increase is generally due to "fast developing industries in farming and pastoral areas," given that, if such cases exist, they are concentrated in specific pockets and are probably subsidized by project funding." 3. Dali-Li Jiang Railway Project Approved by Asian Development
Bank Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $180 million for a 167 km railway line from Dali county to the city of Li Jiang (Satham: Tibetan) in the northwestern Yunnan Province. According to Interfax, other investors in this $548 million project are Agence Francaise de Developpment ($40 million), the Chinese Ministry of Railways ($229.6 million) and the Yunnan provincial government ($ 98.4 million). Economic development induced by the railway project is expected to disrupt the traditional livelihood of ethnic minorities in the region, from where the project is expected to resettle 8,000 local people. (Read ADB president's report on the project to the Boards of Directors. The report notes that the project would have adverse impacts to local people and the environment, and that appropriate measures would be taken.) 4. Massive Protests Cause Suspension of Pubugou Hydropower
Project Tens of thousands (50,000 according to most reports) of residents of Hanyuan county in Sichuan Province protested against the construction of Pubugou Hydropower project in late October this year. As Trin-Gyi-Pho-Nya have been reporting, local people subject to forced resettlement to make way for Pubuguo dam project on the Dadu River (Gyalrong Gyamo Ngulchu in Tibetan) are unhappy with the government's relocation practices. Armed police had dragged many people who had refused to move out of their homes. Many farmers felt cheated by the government as they were moved to a different site, not the one promised and for which they were made to sign agreements. Others who were moved from Hanyuan County were further disappointed to learn that the cost of land in the new city is 180 yuan more expensive per square meter than the government compensation of 320 yuan per square kilometers for their traditional homes. As more farmers joined the protest, more police were deployed that resulted in several clashes and an unverifiable number of deaths - a tragedy reminiscent of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are reported to have stepped in to calm the farmers and issued orders to the provincial government to "protect the interest of farmers." The government now plans to resolve relocation issues before starting construction. The Pubugou Project began construction in April 2004. The project is expected to displace 100,894 people and inundate an area of 84.14 square kilometers of land that includes 20 counties and townships, 65 villages and 8457 acres of good agricultural land in Hanyuan county (approx. 103 degrees longitude and 29 degrees latitude). Hanyuan County is an area of cultural and historic importance and home to people of 17 different "minority nationalities," including Tibetans. 5. Endangered Tibetan Black Bear Tibetan black bears are on the verge of extinction in the PRC with the population in the wild nearly halved during the past decade, mainly due to poaching to extract their bile for medicine, according to reports in the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua. A recent survey conducted by the forestry administration in the TAR shows the region has approximately 7,031 black bears, down from 14,062 in 1994; the last time such a survey was carried out. Also known as the Asiatic black bear, it is now one of the most threatened of the world's six endangered bear species. "The decline in the black bear population is mainly a result of illegal poaching, particularly in the second half of the 20th century," said Liu Wulin, head of the regional forestry survey institute. Despite the animals being under government protection, they are a target for poachers because the bear's gall bladder is prized for traditional Chinese medicine and there is great demand for its fur. Black bears are kept by the thousands in China because their bile, extracted from their gall bladders through surgically implanted catheters, is considered a potent medicine. 6. The first foreign mining company in Tibet Autonomous
Region: Orchid Orchid Resource Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Venture Capital investment group Orchid Capital Limited, created for "the exploration and development of resources opportunities in China," received all the necessary approvals and licenses from the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to form a cooperative joint venture with China Tibet Institute of Geology Survey (CTGS) called the Tibet Pioneer Mining Company Limited (TPMC). Orchid owns 70% and CTGS has 30% of TPMC's share. Orchid is the first foreign company to operate in TAR and has been called "Partner of Choice for Future Deals in Region." TPMC is currently focusing in the Nagartse gold project, approximately 100 km southwest of Lhasa. (For more information click here). Last year, an Australian mining company, Sino Gold attempted to operate in eastern Tibet and faced heavy international outcry. Tibetan rights groups argue that it is unethical and irresponsible to extract Tibet's resources while Tibetans do not have the right to decide the use of their own resource. 7. Tenzin Delek Rinpoche On Death Row But Still Alive According to reports, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who's death sentence suspension expired on December 2, 2004, is still alive. An official at the southwest Sichuan province prison administrative bureau is quoted as having said, "This monk has not been executed. I heard they're considering changing his penalty to life imprisonment or a fixed-term penalty." Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was given death sentence on charges of "inciting separatism" and "causing explosions" by the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan province on December 2, 2002. In the recent months, many human rights organizations and Tibet support groups organized rallies and protests around the world to condemn his death sentence. On December 7, 2004, the US senate unanimously passed a resolution (Senate Resolution 483) calling for the release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and other political prisoners. Tenzin Delek Rinpoche is a widely respected religious teacher and a community leader who has won the heart and respect of the masses in at least four counties of the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. Rinpoche worked not only for the social, cultural, economic, and spiritual aspirations of Tibetans, but also to conserve the environment of the region. According to Human Rights Watch, his endeavor to conserve the local environment include educating against mining practice that would pollute the local rivers and ruins the soil, logging practices that would cause flooding and soil erosion, and indiscriminate hunting that might lead to species loss. He also stood up to local officials to conserve forest. 8. Tiger Leaping Gorge Dam Construction to Begin in 2008 According to new reports, the controversial dam project on Tiger Leaping Gorge (Tak Chong Gak in Tibetan, Hutiaoxia in Chinese) in Yunnan Province's Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site area may begin in 2008. (See our last editorial on the project) This provides enough time for all concerned authorities to conduct various studies and address issues raised by affected local peoples and critics of the project. Recently many environmental organizations and concerned individuals have petitioned the United Nation Educational Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to urge China to halt the project. "We need scientific evidence demonstrating how and to what extend the dam project will actually impair the integrity of the World Heritage Site, in order to persuade these international bodies to take any action," said Tashi Tsering of Tibet Justice Center. Other than immense environmental costs, the project will also devastate the lives of tens of thousands of people, mostly Tibetans, Naxi, Yi, Miao, Bai and Lisu ethnicities. These indigenous peoples live in harmony with the local ecosystems and must be protected as an integral part of world heritage. Their traditional livelihood and their socio-cultural heritage is a world heritage that attracts tourists and researchers from around the world. Most unique of these cultures are the Naxi people, believed to be descendents of nomads from Tibet. Naxi culture is based on unusual matriarchal traditions and their shamans are considered the last people using a form of hieroglyphics. 9. Might your dollars fund the death of a sacred lake? Money raised from Huaneng Power International's IPO (Initial Public
Offerings) at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Hong Kong Exchanges
and Clearing Limited (HKEx), and Southern Connecticut Bancorp Inc
(SSE) may be used to drain a pristine, sacred lake in Tibet known
as the Yeti Lake (Megoe Tso in Tibetan and Mugecuo in Chinese) to
generate electricity. Huaneng Power International recently acquired
60% equity interest in Sichuan Huaneng Hydro Power Development Limited,
a subsidiary of China Huaneng Group. "It is critical to educate
subscribers of Huaneng IPO that their money might be used to fund
a dam project that the local people do not approve," said Tashi
Tsering, Director of Tibet Justice Center's Environment and Development
Program. "Anyone informed about the environmental and social
costs of Yeti Lake Dam Project will be loathe to buy Huaneng's shares."
(For our last update on the project, click
here.) To read a recent Washington Times editorial on the project, click
here Electrowatt Infra (EWI), an engineering consulting company based in Zurich, has received a consultancy contract for the construction of the Western Route of the South-North Water Diversion Project. This project aims to divert waters from the headwaters of Drichu (Yangtze) into the headwaters of Machu (Yellow River) through a series of large dams, tunnels and aqueducts. According to the contract, Electrowatt Infra will conduct "geological analysis, advice and recommend on performance and selection of types of TBM [Tunnel Boring Machines], forecast and handle-measures for unfavorable geological conditions in tunnels construction, personnel arrangement for TBM excavation, installations, air, water and electricity consumption, etc." [*Thupten Norbu is an intern with Tibet Justice
Center's Environment and Development Program. He can be reached
at khoryoug@yahoo.com)
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