TPI holds conference on ‘Environment, Economy and Development of Tibet’
DHARAMSALA, Nov 4: The Tibet Policy Institute (TPI), a research centre of the Central Tibetan Administration today held a conference here in Dharamsala on the ‘Environment, Economy and the Development of Tibet’.
The one-day conference began with an inaugural address by Ms Decki Chhoyang, Honorable Kalon of Department of Information and International relations followed by presentations by Dr Emily Ting Yeh of University of Colorado, the main speaker at the conference and seven other research fellows of the Tibet Policy Institute.
“The purpose of the one-day conference is to bring to the notice of the Tibetan community the enormous economic and development changes that are transforming the lives of the Tibetan people in Tibet, for better or worse,” TPI said in a statement released today.
“This one-day conference will pose questions and offer solutions that may help the Chinese authorities to hammer out a development policy that is in line with the aspirations of the Tibetan people and that which conforms to their deeply held spiritual beliefs and cultural heritage”.
In her inaugural address Kalon Decki Chhochang who had spent around ten years both in inland China and Tibetan areas working on community development, especially in rural Tibetan communities in eastern Tibet shared her experience of witnessing humans and animals losing their teeth in the vicinity of an aluminium factory in Rebkong in Amdo Province, which she later came to know, after speaking with environmentalists in exile, was due to excessive emission of fluoride in the aluminium factories.
“We as Tibetans whether inside Tibet or in exile need to hold more discussions about non-overtly political policies but which nonetheless will significantly impact the future of the Tibetan society and the environmental state of the plateau”.
Dr Emily Ting Yeh, Chair of Department of Geography, University of Colorado and author of the book, ‘Taming Tibet-landscape transformation and the gift of Chinese development’ spoke about the contents of her book which is considered by Professor Tsering Shakya, Canada-based Tibetan scholar of University of British Columbia, widely considered an authority on contemporary Tibetan history and the author of the definitive book on contemporary Tibet, ‘The Dragon in the Land of Snows’, as “one of the best analysis of the contemporary socio-economics and politics of development of Tibet”.
Later in the afternoon, Dr Yeh discussed her research findings on the topic, “Climate change related to challenges facing Tibetan pastoralists”.
Researchers of TPI discussed their research findings on a variety of topics significant to the environment, economy and development of Tibet such as resettlement of Tibetan nomads, tourism and development in Tibet, military and economic implications of the railway line in Tibet, issue of Tibet in Sino-India relations, status of Tibetan language, status of Tibetan environment and an analysis on Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
