Sharing data on mining in Tibet

Here is a set of data on mining in Tibet that hopefully will be useful to some of the readers. This data is the most comprehensive and up-to-date publicly available information on the topic. If you have any additions and corrections to suggest, please let us know.

Also, see some recent Google Earth images (taken September 2010) at the bottom of this blog post for evidence of extensive mining exploration being conducted within the Three Rivers Headwaters Nature Reserve area, specifically near Chumarleb or Dachang Mines.

First, a map of Mining in Tibet.


Here are three spreadsheets with details on the information provided on this map and more, including information sources that you may refer to yourself.

First, a spreadsheet on Mining in Tibet.

Second, on Mining Tibet's Salt Lakes.

And third, on Mining for Petroleum in Tibet.

Now, let's move on to recent Google Earth images that clearly show mineral prospecting trenches (straight lines) in and around Chumarleb (ཆུ་དམར་ལེབ་) county. There are a lot of information on these mines online if you do a search on "Dachang mine". All the images below have latitude and longitude coordinates at the bottom if you want to check for more surprises.

First a larger regional image. Notice that the area is close to the two famous lakes, Kyareng (མཚོ་སྐྱ་རེངས་) and Ngoreng (མཚོ་སྔོ་རེངས་), situated at source of Machu (མ་ཆུ་ / Yellow) River. On the opposite corner are a bunch of orange and blue dots stacked on top of each other. These colored dots, and I believe the trenches as well, are the works of Inter-Citic, a "Canadian public company."



Now a closeup of the trenches. Trenches are dug in straight lines so their findings can be uploaded into the database. After digging the trenches, they also drill into the ground to see what's deeper inside. Computers then estimate what's (how much gold, for example) in between the points.





Here are two images that prove recent drilling activity in these trenches. The first one taken on August 8, 2010 shows the trench (ignore the yellow pin "Drill" marker. The second image below, which was taken a month after that (September 7, 2010), show machines, a shed and a vehicle, indicating active drilling activity.



The trenches can be seen as far as 50 km SE of the main mining sites, just near the Kyareng Lake.


You can also see the main camp of the miners, most probably of Inter-Citic.


There is also some interest whether there is "rare earth" in Tibet. So far we didn't find any rare earth mines in Tibet, although there are four mines in Southeast Sichuan Province. Here are two scientific papers with maps that describe rare earth elements in Tibet.

Hou, Z. & Cook, N.J. (2009). Mettalogenesis of the Tibetan collisional orogen: A review and introduction to the special issue. Ore Geology Reviews, 36 (2009) 2-24.

Hou, Z., Tian, S., Xie, Y., Yang, Z., Yuan, Z, Yin, S., Yi, L. Fei, H., Zou, T., Bai, G., & Li, X. (2009). The Himalayan Mianning-Dechang REE belt associated with carbonatite-alkaline complexes, eastern Ind0-Asian collision zone, SW China. Ore Geology Reviews, 36 (2009) 65-89.

If any of you have information about exploration of rare earth elements in Tibet, please let us know.

THanks!
Read more on this article...

Vanishing Nomads of Tibet

Vanishing Nomads of Tibet
by Tsering Tsomo

Published in Border Affairs
Vol. 12 No. 1, Oct-Dec. 2010
www.borderaffairs.com
The full article can be read on the author's blog .

In 1930s Iran, many Kurdish and Lurid nomads were forced by government order to resettle as farmers in newly erected villages so that the itinerant nomads could be watched and controlled. This forced settlement took place from 1920s through 1960s. The number of nomads decreased considerably during this period. By 1970s, the government was actively ‘encouraging’, not ‘enforcing’ settlement. [Anne Whyte, Economic Geography, Vol. 53, No. 4, The Human Face of Desertification]

So Beijing was not alone when they resettled the Mongol nomads in Inner Mongolia and the Kazak nomads in Xinjiang from 1986 to 1997. In a dress rehearsal of sorts for the current resettlement of Tibetan nomads, Beijing has since the 1980s introduced fencing around pastures restricting nomads’ mobility that is indispensable to traditional methods of grazing and grassland conservation. But having a historical precedent should not be a justification to repeat the same mistakes. Rather it should serve as a warning for future planners in formulating sound humanistic policies.

Resettling of Tibetan nomads in nondescript urban towns began in the 1990s and continues to this day.

Beijing says it is just doing its bit to protect Tibet’s sprawling grasslands and blames the nomads for overgrazing their herds and for causing grassland degradation. Interestingly, large – scale environmental destruction through collectivization, logging, and mining that defined Beijing’s management of Tibetan land and resources since 1949 is not discussed in this primarily state-driven discourse on grassland degradation.

For instance, thanks to China, between 1950 and 1985, Tibet’s forest was reduced from 25.2 million hectares to 13.57 million hectares.

The sheer scale of the project, which aims at relocating all 2.25 million Tibetan nomads in fixed dwellings à la lowland Chinese farmers, has raised concerns not only over the ecology of the Tibetan plateau but the cultural identity of the Tibetan nomads who have lived there for centuries. Activist John Isom of Tibet Justice Center has said that China is “causing a cultural genocide by removing people from the livelihood they have known for millennia and sticking them in concrete walls they have never lived in before.” Diane Barker who has documented the Tibetan community in photographs has said the nomads are the “repository of original Tibetan culture”.

Beijing’s climate change rationale has so far deterred a shriller opposition to this state-sponsored remaking of a culture and a traditionally sustainable livelihood. The other sanctimonious spin of Beijing-led grassland degradation discourse is the poverty alleviation claim, that the nomads are too ‘backward’ and ‘unscientific’ and that they need help in managing their life, land and resources, in effect, denying the nomads their most primal right to choose for themselves the life they want.

To read the rest of the article, please visit the author's blog.

Read more on this article...

VOA Kunleng discusses nomad resettlement issues

The Tibetan language service of Voice of America has an excellent video discussion on the topic of nomad resettlement. The discussion is enriched by the input of two guest experts -- filmmaker-researcher Tashi Despa from London and Khenpo Choeying, who is from a nomadic region of Serta. The guests not only bring passionate Tibetan voices but also first hand knowledge of the conditions on the ground. I personally really liked Tashi Despa's input about the real conditions on the ground and the socio-economic implications of nomad resettlement policy. His use of small examples, such as the poor quality of houses, or the boredom experienced by youth, were very incisive. Khenpo Choying emphasized the significance of nomadic lifestyle for the purity of Tibetan culture and identity, and that the policy of resettlement is a deliberate attempt to sinocize the Tibetan people.

The interview is in Tibetan. If anyone would translate the interview for posting on this blog, it would be much appreciated. For those who don't understand Tibetan, I highly recommend watching Tashi Despa's English subtitled film "Undercover in Tibet". The film has good coverage of many of the issues discussed in the interview.



The video has been resized to fit this blog.

Tibetan Plateau blog posts on the topic of nomad resettlement are here and here.


Read more on this article...

Using Google Earth to Monitor Mining in Tibet 3: Example of Gyama

Mining is one of the biggest topics of concern today. In the past, China could not exploit Tibet's rich mineral resources on a large scale due to lack of technology, capital and transportation facilities. Mining in Tibet was simply too expensive for China. China also lacked the political confidence to open Tibet to Western mining companies. Today, however, things have changed. With a railway line connecting the heart of Tibet, Lhasa, with the major Chinese cities all the way to Beijing, transportation of materials is cheap and easy. China has also become a global economic power and its confidence in dealing with overt Tibetan opposition is at a high. Today it is actively seeking collaboration with, or rather more accurately, it is seeking investment from Western companies to extract Tibet's gold, copper and other precious minerals. China now wants to voraciously exploit the mineral resources of Tibet and other areas such as Xinjiang to meet its skyrocketing domestic demands. China needs to create an independent resource base and Tibet is key in achieving that goal.

Big Western mining companies such as Rio Tinto have so far refrained from investing in Tibet, as a politically sensitive region. Only smaller companies willing to take the risk for potentially big profits have entered Tibet. However, their experiences have been jinxed so far. Vancouver based Continental Minerals, for example, faced the wrath of local people when two of their local employees were taken hostage and their jeep overturned and infrastructure destroyed in a protest a few years ago. Then they faced heavy criticism from Tibetan rights groups such as Students for a Free Tibet and Canada Tibet Committee. This was followed by unpleasant experiences working with their Chinese counterparts, finally being acquired at a large discount by the Gansu based Jinchuan Group Ltd last year.

In this blog post, I will share Google Earth images of the Gyama mine, which is located in Medrogungkar county near Lhasa. Tibetan Plateau blog has a post about Gyama and other mines under the title of Canada and Crimes Against the Tibetan People. For information about the mine, see a recent Vancouver Media Co-op article and Woser's article in Chinese or an English translation by High Peaks Pure Earth. For those interested in technical scientific studies about the impact of the Gyama mine on local water system, see here. Tibetan readers can see this report about about the poisoning of local waters and clashes between locals and miners.


The confluence of two rivers that form the Gyama Valley:




The main processing plant located right near the confluence and on traditional farming land. Google Earth on Tibet tip: if you find a blue colored roof, zoom in to often find something of interest:




Scarred mountains, evidence of intense drilling, which will become open pit mines of Gyama very soon:



Initial signs of open pit mine with trucks on mountain top. Notice the image was taken in November 2009:



Remember the clashes between locals and miners over water? Here's some evidence. Water being piped from river source right through the middle of people's fields:




Further upstream on the other tributary of Gyama River, you see this mine site. One of the great tools you can use in Google Earth is a time machine you can drag to see how the site looked at different times. Notice this image below was shot on December 17 2007, when the tailings pond is mostly empty and the open pit mine is not as deep:




Fast forward the image to the latest version of Nov 4 2009, and you can see the tailings pond filled and the mine dug much deeper:




Continue to go further upstream, and you will find this suspicious site. Are those soldiers standing together on the NNE of the blue structure? You can also see houses, vehicles and construction machinery:



Go further upstream and you will find this frightening sight. Huge areas covering several mountains have been drilled to prospect minerals here. I hope I am wrong but this is most likely the Qulong Copper Deposit, which was reported by the China Geological Survey in 2009 to contain at least 9 million tonnes of copper, plus molybdenum and silver. The Gyama mine, by comparison, has proven reserves of 2.2 million tonnes of copper. According to the International Mining, February 2010 issue (page 40): "In copper, the most famous deposit is Qulong, according to Chen Renyi and Xue Yingxi of the China Geological Survey. They say “With proved reserves of nearly 9 Mt, Qulong will soon be the largest copper deposit in China, and the perspective reserves are over 14-18 Mt.”"



If you follow the zig zag roads of this mine site to the West, it will curiously end near these two lakes, one of which is dry. Were they thinking of using these two remote lakes (5190 meters) as dumping sites for wastes?



These images are examples. The Tibetan Plateau is littered with mine sites, especially smaller sites. I will refrain from inundating this post with GE images. Look for these yourselves and please share information.

This blog post is the third in a series to advocate the use of Google Earth to monitor development projects inside Tibet.

You can easily locate the sites shown above on Google Earth by tracking the coordinates (latitude and longitude) shown at the bottom of the images.
Read more on this article...

Monitoring Tibet through Google Earth - 2

A couple of quick updates: Zhikhong and Thrangu Dam

Last year, Tibetan Plateau blog reported a doctored Google Earth image, which suspiciously covers the Zhikhong Dam, located approximately 100 km NE of Lhasa. While Google did not respond to my queries, the company has now uploaded a different, untampered image of the dam. See below.



THRANGU DAM
In April 14, 2010, a huge earthquake hit Yushu County and caused massive destruction to life and property. The tremors had also damaged a dam, threatening to flood the main city located downstream.

Google Earth has uploaded a April 28, 2010 image of the dam, which shows the reservoir mostly empty.



Check out these images on Google Earth yourself! Notice the coordinates (latitude and longitude) at the bottom of most GE images posted on this blog. Share what you find with us and your friends!

Read more on this article...

Monitoring development and sharing information through Google Earth

A friend forwarded this news story to me. About 3000-4000 Tibetans will have to leave their ancestral homes and villages to make way for a hydro-power project near Lhasa's Lhundrup county in a place called Phondo (ཕོད་མདོ་). Most of these people are agro-pastoralists. The farmers have been ordered to leave their homes by next year and that they cannot practice their traditional livelihood there any more. Farmers are worried that they will be forced to sell their animals and relocated to separate areas. Their requests for better relocation plans have been ignored. According to the report, all of the construction workers that have moved into the region are Chinese and there are a few thousand soldiers now stationed at the site.

This project is documented in our last map of Hydropower Projects on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) river. This is only one of the many, many dams that will be built on the Tibetan Plateau. Tens of thousands more will be forcefully displaced from their homes to make way for these projects. What makes this situation really gloomy is that this news story, for example, did not come to the attention of most Tibetan internet users and Tibetan rights activists sooner. In the past we could blame lack of information and news from Tibet for our ignorance, but today we have such amazing technological tools as Google Earth at our disposal that can be effectively used for our information-sharing and advocacy work. Here's an example:

Someone has posted these some colorful still shots from what seems like a video clip on Google Earth:












These pictures, including some of the construction equipment, were probably taken by tourists visiting the area. All of these photos are from Google Earth:








Check out the comment posted by one of the visitors to the site:



Check out these Google Earth images of the area. The first two annotated images are from my colleagues at the Central Tibetan Administration's Environment and Development Desk. The remaining images, some of them are from November 8, 2008 and some of them are as recent as March 13, 2010. These images clearly show the villages and the fields, which will be inundated by the reservoir or developed beyond recognition. If only someone would archive all of these Google Earth images of Tibetan villages and pastoral lands before they are developed and their images updated on Google Earth.
















If you would like to read some Tibetan language news from China, see this, this, this. You can get these news stories by doing a google search of "ཕོད་མདོ་" (phod mdo or Phondo). Read more on this article...

རྣམ་གླིང་དུ་གཏེར་ཁ་བསྔོག་འདོན་ལ་ངོ་རྒོལ།

Radio Free Asia reports that some Tibetans have been arrested in Shigatse protesting against an increasing number of Chinese miners in the region. See this link for a Tibetan language radio report and some pictures:རྣམ་གླིང་དུ་གཏེར་ཁ་བསྔོག་འདོན་ལ་ངོ་རྒོལ།

[end] Read more on this article...

Times of India: Response from Chinese official

The Times of India has published an article in response to the recent article by the Guardian about hydropower projects in Tibet. The Guardian's article is based on my last blog post. The Times of India has interviewed a Chinese official, Ma Jiali, with the goverment-run Institute of Contemporary International Relations to respond to a claim (which I also made) that China is likely to build a massive 38 gigawatt hydropower project at the Great Bend of Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra river.



It is a privilege to have one's work discussed in major newspapers like the Guardian, Times of India and the Hindustan Times! Thanks to the reporters who did the stories to bring much needed attention to this important matter.

I wanted to write directly to Times of India with a response to Mr. Ma Jiali's comments but surprisingly I couldn't find a "Contact" link/info on their website! So here is a blog post instead.

Mr. Jiali's response: "There are some people in China including hydrological engineers and retired military officers pushing the government to build a major water project on the Brahmaputra in Tibet. But the Chinese government has no such plans. [...] Some people including retired military officers have been advocating such a project for a long time. But I can tell you there is no such plans in the government."

Yes, we knew that. However, it must be clarified that there are two components to the "major water project" discussed here: one is hydro-power project and the other is a connected water diversion project to China. My claim is that the hydropower project is likely to be built but the water diversion project is not very likely. Read my last blog post for more details.

Mr. Jiali continues: "All that the government wants to do is establish small hydro-electricity projects in a way that there is no environmental damage. It will be bad for China as well because such a project can cause serious damage to environment in the sensitive mountain areas. Also, where is the market for generating so much electricity in Tibet?" And Times of India adds, "A major project would not be economically viable."

Now this is not true and is very misleading. The Tibetan Plateau blog has identified at least 16 hydro-electricity projects on the Yarlung Tsangpo and its tributaries that can generate more power than the largest hydropower project currently operating in Tibet Autonomous Region, the 100 MWZhikong project near Meldro Gungkar (མལ་གྲོ་གུང་དཀར་).

Certainly there is no domestic demand for so much energy, except to power government's extensive plans to develop the region and to extract gold, copper and other minerals. The greatest demand for energy actually comes from Chinese cities. A senior researcher like Mr. Jiali cannot be ignorant of China's "West to East Power Transmission Project." Here is the State Grid map again, which shows Metog (Motuo) hydropower project connected to ultra-high voltage power transmission lines of China.


Read more on this article...

Damming Tibet's Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra and other South Asian rivers

The Tibetan Plateau blog presents a preliminary map of hydropower projects on the upper reaches of the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra (ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ༑) River in Tibet. It is hoped that this map will contribute new information to recent international discussions and clarify some of the misunderstandings about Chinese water control projects on the river.


Click on images for full size view


The map also shows hydropower projects (HPP) on the upper reaches of several other international rivers in South Asia, namely the Indus (Senge Khabab), Sutlej (Langchen Khabab), Karnali (Mabcha Khaba), Arun (Bumchu) and Subansiri (Loro Chu/ལོ་རོ་ཆུ་, alternative name: Jya Chu/བྱ་ཆུ་) rivers. This is the final map in a series that shows hydropower projects on the Tibetan Plateau.** Previous maps include those on the upper reaches of the Salween, Mekong and Yangtze rivers; the Yellow River; the Nyagchu or Yalong River; as well as the eastern edges of the Tibetan Plateau. As always, corrections as well as additions to any of these maps are most appreciated.

The status of dams on the upper reaches of Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra shows that there are 10 dams completed, three under construction, seven under active consideration and eight more proposed. There is one hydropower project completed, each, on the Senge Khabab (Indus), Langchen Khabab (Sutlej) and Mabcha Khabab (Karnali) rivers. Five large dams are proposed on the Bumchu (Arun) River and another large dam proposed on Loro Chu (Subansiri).

While the larger hydropower projects and a few of the smaller projects have been indicated, there are many small hydropower projects in the region, disconnected from any large power grids. Many Tibetans have until recently lived without electricity, and many still do. There is a pattern by which dams and power transmission lines are built on the Tibetan Plateau -- smaller and middle sized dams are built first, to provide a basis for the construction of larger ones to follow. The current push to provide Tibetans with electrical power seems primarily motivated by the need for larger HPPs to power resource extraction, infrastructure development, and ultimately for supply to coastal Chinese cities where demands are the highest.

A note on Tibetan and Chinese names on the maps: The maps show Tibetan names of places, rivers, mountains and lakes. However, HPPs are indicated with their Chinese names unless they are not known. The Chinese names are used mainly because these are Chinese projects better known with their own project names and also because it is easier to locate (less confusing) for researchers.

YARLUNG TSANGPO-BRAHMAPUTRA
The Tsangpo-Brahmaputra is a major international river shared between Tibet/China, India and Bangladesh. On the Tibetan Plateau, the river flows west to east, across Southern Tibet, from its sources near the sacred Mt. Kailash (གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ༑) all the way to the Great Bend, where the river turns north to take a sharp U-turn to flow south into India and then to Bangladesh. Hydrologically, this river is connected to the larger Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin.

Until recently, the Yarlung Tsangpo was considered as an undammed river. China has officially announced plans to build five dams on the middle section of the river, including the Zangmu project currently under construction, which has caused much concern in India. The absence in these debates of the voices of Tibetans who live in the valley and are traditional users of its waters in these debates is deplorable, especially given their historical, religious and economic connections to the river.

The Yarlung Tsangpo River is intimately linked to the history of Tibetan civilization, indigenous religious beliefs and practices, and ultimately to the Tibetan identity. As the River Nile is to Egypt, Yarlung Tsangpo can be considered the cradle of Tibetan civilization. The Yarlung Valley is the home of the earliest Tibetan kings known as the Yarlung Dynasty. From its sources near the sacred Mt. Kailash, the Yarlung Tsangpo valley is dotted with pilgrimage sites and power-places such as meditation caves of past masters and beyul (་"hidden valleys") for spiritual practices. The river is also shown in paintings of the famous imagery of Tibet as a supine demoness (སྲིན་མོ་གན་རྐྱལ༑).



THE TSANGPO GORGE: THE SACRED LAND OF PEMA KOE
The Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo, also known as the Tsangpo Gorge, has attracted significant international attention as the "Last Secret Place on Earth" and for having the greatest hydropower potential of any site in the world. Through the 19th century, cartographers were not certain whether the Yarlung Tsangpo emerged from the other side of the Gorge as the Brahmaputra, the Irrawaddy, or some other river. Just downstream of Lungpe (ལུང་དཔེ་), the Yarlung Tsangpo enters one of the world's deepest and largest gorges, starting from a 4,900-meter cleft between two of the highest mountains in Eastern Himalaya: 7756 meters high Namchak Barwa and 7294 meters tall Gyala Pelri. As the river drops nearly 2500 meters in altitude through the length of the bend, the gorge is considered ideal for hydropower generation. Speculation about the construction of the world's most powerful dam and a major water diversion project at this site (discussed below) has been a major cause of concern in downstream countries.

The Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River is also known as one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world in terms of plant species. Although it is hard to imagine how botanists studied and added up the numbers of different plant species in this hard-to-travel corner, this official site boasts the existence of 3,700 plant species and emphasizes "the primordial nature of the plants" in the region. The ecological integrity of the Great Bend area is critical for the conservation of the Himalayas as one the world's richest but at greatest-risk areas for biodiversity (hotspot).

To the Tibetans, the Great Bend region is known as Pema Koe, the most sacred beyul blessed by Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, the Indian Buddhist yogin credited with firmly establishing Buddhism in Tibet. Generations of visionary Tibetan Buddhist masters have revealed "hidden treasures" (གཏེར་མ་) and made journeys through the different layers of spiritual doors of beyul Pema Koe. Tibetans also consider the region as the home of the Goddess Dorje Phakmo (Vajra Yogini).

Similar to the Tibet map depicted as a demoness lying on her back, this local trekking group describes the sacred geography of the Pema Koe region as mapped onto the body of the goddess Dorje Phakmo herself: "Her head is the Kangri Kangpo [White Snow Mountain], her two breasts [are] Namche Barwa and Gyala Peri [mountains] respectively. The lower part of her body lies in Yangsang or the innermost Pemako which is the upper Siang region of Arunachal Pradesh. In the confluence of Siang (Tsangpo) and Yangsang is the sacred tri[a]ngle Kila Yangzom the vulva of Goddess Dorje Phagmo." These beliefs and pilgrimage practices have religious and cultural significance for millions of Buddhists around the world.


The Great Bend of the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra. Photo courtesy of Christoph Hormann of www.imagico.de

HYDROPOWER PLANS AT THE GREAT BEND OF THE YARLUNG TSANGPO-BRAHMAPUTRA
The map shows two different proposals to harness the hydroelectric potential of the Great Bend: Motuo and Daduqia. The tunnels for Motuo project starts at Lungpe and ends at Metog (མེ་ཏོག༑). Daduqia starts near Pe (ཕད་) and ends at Digdong (སྡིག་གདོང་) near the Indian border. Of these two projects, China is likely to build the 38,000 MW hydropower station near Metog called Motuo in Chinese. This project is feasible from an economic and engineering perspective, although there will be major environmental and seismic issues involved due to the size of the reservoir if the Chinese government decides to build a large dam at the lower end of the tunnels. The status of the project shown as under active consideration is based on informed assessments and evidence. The project is likely to be built after related infrastructure of nearby dams to supply power for its construction and ultra-high voltage power transmission lines are completed. Although the July 2003 Xinhua reports of preliminary studies conducted in the region are not available online anymore, there are several evidences online including discussions of the project on official, academic and other professional websites. The following annotated map of the State Grid Corporation of China envisions the Motuo project connected to ultra high voltage lines of China.



Any tunnels associated with hydropower projects would be approximately 15 - 25 km long, of similar length to those currently being constructed for the Jinping II project on the Nyagchu. These proposed tunnels would likely be attached to large pipes on the downstream side to convey the water through a number of generators before reaching the lower leg of the bend. At this point it is likely that there would also be a large dam (Motuo) in the Grand Canyon of the bend. An alternative proposal, shown on the map as "Daduqia", avoids large dams altogether and takes full advantage of the 2400m drop in altitude, but it is near the border with India and would be highly exposed if there were another conflict. The details of the tunnel routes as presented on the map are inferred but are presented with high confidence based on the assumption that China's engineers have sought to optimize the return on the project.

The greatest risk to a large dam at the Great Bend comes from seismic activity. The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau were formed by the collision of techtonic plates. As such, earthquakes are not uncommon in Tibet. Metog County, where Motuo reservoir is likely to be built, had a "moderate" earthquake in 2008 before the disastrous Sichuan Earthquake that killed over 90,000 people. The recent earthquake in Yushu and the cracking of Thrangu dam is a nerve-wracking example for people living downstream in India and Bangladesh, given the proximity of the Great Bend to India. Chinese government seismologist Fan Xiao has suggested that man-made activity such as the weight of a large artificial lake near fault-lines can trigger earthquakes.

WATER DIVERSION FROM THE TSANGPO-BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER
Several ideas have been proposed to divert water from a giant dam at the Great Bend, through hundreds of kilometers of long canals, to the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, or even the Gobi Desert. Two individuals are key sources of these ideas: Guo Kai, a retired Chinese People's Liberation Army general, whose ideas were published in a book titled "How Tibet's Water Can Save China" by Li Ling (published December 2005), and the late Mr. Masaki Nakajima, "founder and special advisor to the Mitsubishi Research Institute of Japan," who first proposed a $500 billion project to the Global Environmental Fund in 1977 (See, Verghese in "Waters of Hope", 1990, pp. 188-189). These proposals are not shown on the map because there is no evidence of government interest and also because these ideas do not make practical or economic sense.

While Masaki Nakajima and Guo Kai were the two main sources of speculation, there are actually many different proposals for diverting water from the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra. The only project that had "official" interest at one time envisioned diverting water from near Tsethang, in the mid-reaches of the river at about 3500m, and directing it through a tunnel into the Nyang valley, and from there eventually to the Yellow River. It would rely on both gravity and power generated by a HPP on the Great Bend to move the water to the intended location. This project has been officially dismissed. There are other "unofficial" proposals, including connecting different rivers of Tibet as if these were streets that can run in all directions.

Close study of the terrain around the Great Bend area and possible canal routes on Google Earth show that the laws of physics will not allow water diversion from the Great Bend as suggested. For example, a reservoir like Motuo (850 m altitude) which is ideal for taking advantage of the drop in the Great Bend altitude would have lost 2000 meters of height that must be transferred over corrugated mountain ranges--through canals that are hundreds of kilometers long. Some may stubbornly argue that it is possible to divert the water with the combined power supplied by the dams at Motuo and Yiwong-Parlung rivers and with "peaceful nuclear explosions" to bore tunnels in the mountains. Even if these were possible, the immense costs do not make sense given the fact that water can be diverted from other rivers more easily and the key attraction for power generation at the Great Bend is economic development, not pumping water. Another major issue is the climate of the Tibetan Plateau, where it is below freezing point during winters and during early spring when water demand is highest in North China.

The Mid-Reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo
This is where major development is currently taking place. The 510MW Zangmu (རྫམ་ or Zam) is under construction and three other projects, Lengda (གླིང་མདའ་ or Lingda), Zhongda (སྒྲོམ་མདའ་ or Zhomda), and Langzhen have begun site preparation. Construction could begin within a few years. Development of Jiacha (རྒྱ་ཚ་ or Gyatsa) is also expected soon. It appears Jiexu will be developed last. As this is the upstream dam in this cascade of six projects, and the last to be developed, this may have a large reservoir to assure a constant flow for the downstream dams.

Here is an annotated high-resolution image of Zangmu project under progress from GeoEye that is annotated by one of Tibetan Plateau blog's consultants. Tibetan Plateau blog is responsible for the annotation.



The Yiwong and Parlung Rivers
Site planning is currently under way on these tributaries of the Yarlung Tsangpo. Completion of projects on these rivers is likely required for development of the Motuo HPP. The sites indicated are based on a map on Hydrochina's website. As the characters of the names of most of the projects shown were unintelligibly small and vague on the Hydrochina map they have been assigned the Tibetan names of nearby towns, which are approximate sites of future developments.




**The Tibetan Plateau blog is grateful to many individuals and organizations for their support and guidance in making this series of maps possible for publication. Organizations include International Rivers, Probe International and the University of British Columbia. People include friends and experts living/working in Tibet and China, Kevin Li, Bruce Lee, James Trevor, Stone Routes, Dorothy Berger and most of all to M, who did most of the laborious work behind these maps. Thank you all!

Read more on this article...

Tibetan girl band Acha and Jackie Chan sing for the environment

The popular Tibetan girl band, Acha or Ajia, has posted an interesting music video on their blog. The song has mixed themes of animal rights, environment and peace. The video also shows Jackie Chan dressed as a Tibetan and singing glu (གླུ་) with both hands around his mouth as if shouting to someone at distance.

Tibetan Plateau blog presents a translation of the lyrics and an interesting viewer comment on Acha's blog. The comment is apparently written by a Tibetan who is angry at certain performers in the Qinghai TV benefit gala for Yushu earthquake for their choice of dress and songs. Amongst others, the comment expresses shock to see singers dressed in traditional costumes decorated with otter skin. Although wearing of traditional costumes decorated with animal skins was popular until recently, the practice has been largely shunned by Tibetans following instructions from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in January 2006.






LYRICS OF THE SONG "CALLING"

Where have all the forests gone? where have all the stars gone?
Where has the blue ocean gone?
Where have all the kites gone? where have all the doves gone?
Where has the young cyclist gone?

The antelope from kekexili, the rhino from tropical Africa,
they have not yet closed their hopeless eyes,
The deserted grassland,the gradually warmed up earth,
Who will save all the green lives?

Love every breath of this earth's air,
Love the glory of mother earth,
And all the flying birds
as well as creatures,
Sing a song,
to call upon the light of peace,
to carve the future,

Our dear mother standing in the remote distance in hope,
with a smile on her face but her heart heart trembling inside,
The ruined wall in old summer palace,
The blood on the streets of Iraq,
I do not want to see hands that are holding guns.

Love every breath of this earth's air,
Love the glory of mother earth,
And all the flying birds
as well as creatures,
Sing a song,
to call upon the light of peace,
to cease the fires of war,

Love every breath of this earth's air,
Love the glory of mother earth,
And all the flying birds
as well as creatures,
Sing a song,
to call upon the light of peace,
to carve the future

The forests are back,
The fairytale is back,
The hope from our hearts is back.

[end of lyrics]





The shame of the disaster relief benefit gala

After watching the Qinghai TV benefit gala for disaster relief yesterday evening, the feeling was of great shame, first of all the Tibetan compatriots taking part in the gala, each and every one of them was all dressed up, more ironically, some of them, unexpectedly, were wearing Tibetan dress with otter skin trim, also when I looked at Wangmo's costume it was as though she were performing at a carnival, looking crazy and stupid to the extreme, how can you not look at the Han Chinese singers' costumes, at the very least the other costumes were appropriate for the occasion, even more incredibly, Yungdrug Gyal was singing Tashi Delek songs, what an idiot, not knowing on what kind of occasion to sing what kind of songs, we are dead people, so many of us died and he is still singing Tashi Delek, really such an idiot, sadly, we Tibetans have some singers, who for their own pitiful names, allow themselves to turn into foolish clowns at the mercy of others. The two of them are a disgrace to Tibetan stars.

Tibetan Plateau blog is thankful to a friend and High Peaks Pure Earth for help with translations.

Read more on this article...