Author and documentary filmmaker Michael Buckley delves deeper into ecological problems that Tibet is facing due to construction of dams and mines by China in his new book. He tells Divya Kaushik how the use of technology and mega dams have hit the agriculture of the region the worst
He has been visiting Tibet for over 30 years now. One among many things that he loves doing there is rafting. During one of his rafting trips on Drigung river, he was told by the locals that dams are coming up as major obstruction in rafting and kayaking. Then on, he started digging information and visiting the place frequently to find out the damage that dams, constructed by the Chinese, are causing to the eco system of Tibet.
“Tibet has got huge hydro-potential, the best in the world, courtesy its powerful rivers that come off the Tibetan plateau and originate form China. While travelling you cannot ignore the environmental problems that have come up over the years due to mines and construction of dams. My recent book, Meltdown in Tibet, is a mix of my travels and ecological problems that the place is facing,” says Michael Buckley, a documentary filmmaker and writer of numerous books about Tibet.
His recent book (published by Pan Macmillan India) talks about how the mighty rivers of Tibet are being dammed by Chinese engineering consortiums to feed the mainland’s thrust for power. The land is relentlessly mined in search of minerals to feed China’s industrial complex. “Also on the drawing board, are the plans for a massive engineering project to divert water from Eastern Tibet to the water-starved Northern China. Ruthless Chinese repression leaves Tibetans helpless to stop the destruction of their scared land,” says Buckley.
He adds that while travelling in Tibet, one could not really see the dams as they are hidden down the gorges and the mines as they are off the track, but what one could see is the destruction that is happening around. “For example, the Yamdrok lake is one of the three largest scared lakes in Tibet. According to local mythology, Yamdrok lake is the transformation of a goddess.
There is a hydro project being built on the shores of the lake. They are pumping water out of the lake and they pump it back by bringing water back from other sources. So it is crazy. Why would you want to take the water out and then replace it with the water from the lakeIJ It is not even producing enough electricity. Tibet is very upset about it because it is a sacred lake. The belief is that if that lake drains it will be the end of Tibet.
When I first went to Tibet in 1985, there was no Chinese tourism, there was no damming at all, no mining, too. It was a lot more pristine, but now you are getting 15 million Chinese tourists a year and they are coming through train. The train has brought in a lot of convenience to travelling and it is cheaper, too. The impact of tourism on environment has been huge as the places tourists like to go are the scared lakes or the places of pilgrimage. And people take selfies and drink beer and all this is very upsetting to Tibetans but there is hardly anything that they can do about it,” shares the author and adds that the Chinese are not realising that by disturbing the river flow in Tibet they are shooting themselves in the foot as most rivers originate from China.
“There were no dams before the Communist party took over in 1949. Chinese want to double the amount of hydro power by 2020 and for that they are looking at the rivers of Tibet because their own rivers are thoroughly dammed. China has more dams than the rest of the world put together, so they’re gradually working their way towards the Tibetan Plateau because they build dams in cascades. They start off on the lower ground and as they build upwards, they use the power from other dams to complete the cascade because you need power to build more power.
A river is a life giving source and the whole eco system depends on rivers. The farmers are worst hit because of the building of these dams, as they stop the movement of fish and silt. Silt is all the nutrients collected from the river and is very much needed for the growing of crops. Dams are blockers of silt and they block the nutrients that are supposed to go into the agriculture downstream. As a result of this, farmers have to depend on fertilisers. You can see a huge impact of this in Cambodia, where people depend on fish for their protein intake. In the biggest fresh water lake in the world, Tonie Sap in Cambodia, the fish catch has reduced in the last ten years. The dams have reduced the flow of water in the lake which largely depends on annual flooding for fish hatching. If the river is not flooded, there won’t be enough fishes,” he says.
In the book, Michael gives an example of Bhutan to point out that there can be a possible solution to ecological problems that we are facing today. “But Bhutan is a small place where any policy can be very easily executed. Tibetans have no option to protest and there are no NGOs that caters to environmental causes such as this. There are some Chinese NGOs, though, who may take up the case in the future,” ends the author.