Happy 2010: SpitiValley.org Website Launch

May 2010 be a great year for you all!

Taking the new year as an auspicious start, I am excited to release a in-progress-wwwsite of a project I am supporting in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India.

The Kachen Dugyal Memorial Welfare Society is an amazing spiritual project. Please visit their wwwsite to enjoy some inspiring stories and pictures.

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Denmark's anticipatory sale of Tibet bears no fruit

Did you know that Denmark has 'sold' Tibet's historical status as a sovereign state and the Tibetan people's right to struggle for freedom from Chinese rule at the beginning of the COP 15 meetings (on December 9) to appease China? This, according to media sources, is done hoping that China will then behave like a responsible superpower. [Denmark is not the only country that has 'sold' Tibet's historical legal status. Last year England did something similar in a statement.]

So how did China respond during the COP 15 negotiations?

An insider at a crucial meeting of two dozen heads of states, Mark Lynas, blames China for the failure of the COP 15 summit:

"It was China's representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. "Why can't we even mention our own targets?" demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil's representative too pointed out the illogicality of China's position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point."

Accoring to Mr. Lynas, "China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now 'in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years' time'."

I have been to several international environmental conferences, including IUCN 2000, IUCN 2004 and WSSD 2002, and I have seen with my own eyes how these negotiations work, especially at the UN level. At these meetings, world politics is more influential than global or international politics. By world politics, I mean that states quickly get grouped into the politics of "developed countries" versus "developing countries" or the First World versus the Third World countries. Issues of global politics, such as human rights, poverty reduction, environmental protection and women's empowerment will get hijacked under international (between key states) and world politics.

What is interesting is the level of world politics that operates at these conferences. The developed versus developing countries politics, one would imagine, is very old and outdated. It isn't. It still dominates these meetings. While I came across deeper undercurrents of world politics, such as the aspirations of the 53-member African states and the Muslim bloc, these do not come up as forcefully in the proceedings. These undercurrents, somehow, get subsumed under the larger 'developing versus developed countries' politics. The African and Muslim blocs, for example, are generally happy to vote "No" to anything that the developed countries, usually headed by the U.S., put forward. And China, as a leader of developing countries bloc, takes advantage of this condition efficiently and effectively.

What is even more interesting is how the vastly different developing countries, from major powers like India and Brazil to climate-vulnerable states like Maldives and Bangladesh, allow China, which is far more powerful and has completely different sets of interests, take the lead in these negotiations. This raises a question: will China advocate for the interest of countries like Maldives? Read an observation by Mr. Lynas:

"With the deal gutted, the heads of state session concluded with a final battle as the Chinese delegate insisted on removing the 1.5C target so beloved of the small island states and low-lying nations who have most to lose from rising seas. President Nasheed of the Maldives, supported by Brown, fought valiantly to save this crucial number. "How can you ask my country to go extinct?" demanded Nasheed. The Chinese delegate feigned great offence – and the number stayed, but surrounded by language which makes it all but meaningless. The deed was done."
So there. Denmark has sacrificed Tibet on the altar of a global environmental issue to no avail. With the lessons learned, does Denmark have the integrity to acknowledge its mistakes and retract the statement?

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Do you know the name of this flower?

Yes, can you please tell me the English or botanical name of this flower? Apparently this flower is quite popular among Tibetans. Its Tibetan name is Dolma Metok (སྒྲོལ་མ་མེ་ཏོག༑).



I like how these flowers are planted in used paper packets and old rusty tins, something financially poor elder Tibetans commonly do. This white Dolma Metok is planted in a Amul milk packet. Amul dairy products are a favorite of Tibetan refugees in India. [Amul, by the way, has an interesting story behind its inception as a farmers' cooperative society in the Indian state of Gujarat.] This photo was taken at Mussoorie's Tibetan Buddhist temple and these flowers belong to an older monk, whose name I don't know. Tibetans are quite ingenious about their flower pots. My mother has a couple of begonia (Chuzin Metok) plants in broken Chinese thermos cases. My friend Tsering Chophel's parents, who live in Clementown Dhondupling Tibetan refugee settlement, have cut several 2-litre soft drink (Coke, 7up) plastic bottles in halves and made two flower pots, one with the lid on, from each bottle!

Gen Tamding-la, a teacher at Mussoorie Tibetan Homes School, told me how they used to take great care of Dolma Metok. Apparently this is a perennial flower. Winters in Tibet are cold, so they keep the flowers indoor during night and they take it outside in the morning sun. Dolma metok, Gen Tamding-la said, is a special "ornament" of Losar (Tibetan new year) decoration. The white flowers have a nice subtle scent, which the red ones seem to lack. Dolma metok also comes in yellow and other colours.



Here (above) is a close-up photo of Dolma Metok. Even the red ones on the back is Dolma Metok.




The older lama's flower collection overlooking the Himalayas. He has many kinds of geranium (Trung Trung Metok) and marigolds (Serchen Metok). 




This (above) daisy-like flower is actually chrysanthemum. Now, there are many Tibetan names for chrysanthemum such as Khenpa (འཁན་པ་), Lugmig (ལུག་མིག་) and Drangsong (དྲང་སྲོང་). Khenpa is the most commonly used name. I think Lugmig is the name used in Tibetan medicine -- I should consult an expert on Tibetan medicinal plant names about this. Drangsong means old sage or ascetic in Tibetan. Drangsong Metok is a specific kind of chrysanthemum: these have fluffier blossoms with longer petals, see below.



If you wish to learn Tibetan flower names, see this post. I would love to hear from readers about flower names. Please share.

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Woser's article on "Tibet's Water Pollution and China's 'Global Warming'" on HPPE

There is a really good Chinese language article on pollution of Lhasa River and problems associated with mining at Gyama village of Meldro Gungkar county by Woser, the premier Tibetan blogger. You can read an English translation of the article by High Peaks Pure Earth. Check out the striking photographic evidences of the problems with water pollution and mining in the region.

The Gyama mine is now owned by a Canadian company named Jinshan. I have written about human rights implications and Canada's involvement in these projects. See: Canada and Crime Against the Tibetan People

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Dams on Machu/Yellow River/Huanghe (Northeast Tibetan Plateau)

I am pleased to publish this map of hydropower projects on the upper Yellow River, also known as Machu (᪵ᨋᩛᨋ) [རྨ་ཆུ་] in Tibetan and Huanghe in Chinese. Many thanks to my amazing map maker and to all the readers who have provided us information and feedback. If you find the following map of dams in Northeast Tibetan Plateau of interest, check out related maps of dams on the eastern edges of the Tibetan Plateau. We are working on more maps, so please stay tuned.





For the sake of simplicity and accuracy, a project's Status is shown under four possible values: Built/Operational, Under Construction, Under Active Consideration, and Proposed. 

The term "Built" includes HPPs that have started generating power but are not complete, as well as those that have been operational but are currently non-functional. 

"Under Construction" indicates that work is proceeding on the ground and does not necessary entail that the river has been blocked or diverted. 

"Under Active Consideration" includes projects in which the design, environmental issues, financing etc. are being developed as well as those that have been discussed but have never made it to the drawing board in any serious way. 

"Cancelled" includes only those projects for which there is widespread agreement that the government has decided that the proposed projects will not go ahead. This does not mean that a similar project may not be in the works to get around of the cancellation of the original project.

Capacity is given in Megawatts. This should be understood to be the planned maximum rated power generation capacity of the generators of a HPP when it is completed. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, these figures are often given somewhat different values in different sources. Power generation capacity of hydropower generators is developing quickly so they may change.

Information shared here are obtained from the Northwest Hydro Consulting Engineers, CHECC, a Qinghai government website, and a number of other web based resources. Chinese and non-Chinese maps of the area have been used for geographical information.

The maps are only approximately to scale. The positions of the hydropower projects are approximate. A professional map should be used for more accurate geographic information.

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COP 15, China and Tibet

Another quick post to recommend an article by Ma Jun, director of Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs based in Beijing. I like the way Ma Jun has described the problem of the COP 15 agreement deadlock between developed and developing countries as having to do with issues of efficiency and equity. It is also always refreshing to hear reasonable Chinese or Tibetan (where are they?) voices that move environmental issues beyond the confines of national politics to the global level.

One may argue that Tibetan environmental issues must be seen within the context of the Chinese political economy and the historical context of their rule in TIbet. Agreed. In fact I argue further that finding solutions--i.e., reversing adverse Chinese development policies and practices in Tibet--would require working with Chinese environmental leaders. Talking about Tibet's environmental problems to the world, via Western media and supporters, will not reverse disturbing trends such as excessive damming of rivers or displacement of nomads. Tibetans working with Chinese environmentalists like Ma Jun, however, may start the incremental steps necessary to ameliorate these disturbing trends within the Chinese political economy.

I came to know about Ma Jun's work nearly ten years ago when he was an environmental journalist trying to get his book on China's Water Crisis translated/published in English. I was a fresh graduate student then at the Hatfield School of Government in Portland, Oregon. I vividly remember watching Ma Jun's presentation on China's Water Crisis live online, which was telecast from the office of International Rivers in Berkeley. I even managed to ask him a question during the Q&A session. It was quite an experience. What struck me from this exchange, although I don't remember what we talked about, was his affable personality and his deep sense of commitment to deal with China's environmental problems, character traits I noticed in several other Chinese environmental leaders whom I came to know in the coming years. Unlike the Communist brainwashed and racist Chinese stereotype that I had heard so many times growing up in exile, Chinese environmental leaders I met, such as Wang Yongchen, Yu Xiaogang and Wen Bo are all extremely nice and open-minded people. Read more on this article...