THE COUNTRY: Tibet melts

En China lo conocen como el "tren al cielo", And they don't exaggerate. HeTranstibethan It is the railway line that connects different cities of the Asian giant with the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, And it circulates through the highest point in which rails have never been lying: Tanggula's passage, a 5.072 Altitude meters. Its construction, One of Mao Zedong's dreams, concluded in 2006 And it was considered a wonder of engineering and sample of the newly acquired Chinese technological power. Not surprisingly, The trip is an epic odyssey in which convoys are used specially designed to increase oxygen concentration at a higher height, also equipped with individual shots to avoid height evil in their most sensitive passengers, which has required tunnels to almost 5.000 meters high and lift the soil railroad, leaving passageways under not influence the migrations of animals in danger of extinction, Like the Tibetan antelope.

However, Now the project is in danger. And reason has little to do with technology. The problem lies in global warming that is causing the disappearance of ‘permafrost’, The perpetual ice on which part of the final section of the train has been raised, In the Tibetan Altiplano. If the forecasts of A pessimistic government study made by more than 500 Chinese scientists, More than 80% De is' permafrost’ will have disappeared for 2100, so that the structure of much of the railway project most desired by the Communist Party could be down.

Of course, this is just a small example of a serious situation that can have devastating effects for more than 1.300 Millions of people who live a dozen countries whose water resources depend directly on the Himalayas, cradle of the six most caudalous rivers in Asia. Because the 46.000 glaciers found in the mountain range and the highlands, that suppose the third largest concentration of ice after Antarctic and Arctic —and 14,5% of the total— y la razón por la que se denomina a esta zona "el Tercer Polo".

According to the information prepared by the Central Tibetan authority —The Government in exile— For the Paris Climate Conference, In the last 50 years the 82% of ice has melted and, If the speed at which it disappears is not reduced, in 2050 Only one third of the current frozen water will remain. According to The Cryosphere, The scientific publication of the European Union of Geosciences, All Everest glaciers could fade to 2100, A process that already confirms those who access the highest peak base camp on the planet, Where ice is more scarce every year.

The different studies carried out in the last year on this problem agree that the cause of this situation is global warming, whose effect on the ‘world roof’ TRIPLICA THE GLOBAL Average. "The impact of climate change on Tibet is especially hard. Tibet must be considered a central pillar of any progress designed ”, The Dalai Lama asked before the celebration of the Paris Climate Summit. "Because the Tibetan Altiplano must be protected, Not only for Tibetans but for the health of the planet and the sustainability of the entire world ”, Apostilled the spiritual leader. After all, What happens in the Himalayas ends up conditioning even the climate pattern to thousands of kilometers, Especially the one of the Monzones in South Asia.

Unfortunately, The Minister of International Information and Relations of the Central Tibetan Authority, Dicki chhoyang, affirms to El País that the agreement reached at the end of COP21 must be just a first step. “Although human rights references were eliminated from the final text, The Paris Agreement must protect indigenous groups that are in the front line of the climatic crisis ”. In that regard, Chhoyang states that Tibet is of vital importance. “If world leaders acquire a serious commitment to avoid an environmental catastrophe, They must recognize Tibet's relevance in the sustainability of the fragile world ecosystem ”.

Curiously, China coincides in the desperate diagnosis of the situation of this special autonomous region. The official Xinhua agency reported last April that every year the country loses 247 square kilometers of glaciers, A fact that also increases desertification in the region, that extends at a rhythm of 2.330 square kilometers a year and that has already caused the disappearance of a 80% of its forests. It's more, China's Ministry of Water Resources said in 2013 than some 28.000 Small rivers had disappeared abruptly until 2011, and a former researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences He affirmed Voice of America, Under anonymity, that the main causes are the warming of the Tibetan Altiplano and the disappearance of the permafrost, that is to say, The ice layer that is permanently at the surface levels of the soil of the very cold regions.

In what the Chinese government and the Tibetan authority do not seem to coincide in exile is in the steps to be taken to find a solution to the problem. From the Indian town of Dharamsala, where Tibetan leaders have found asylum, The Tibetan Prime Minister, Lobsang Sangay, says that "Beijing carries out disastrous environmental policies for Tibet that can also lead to serious international conflicts". The Government's document for COP21 lists some: The main is the construction of multiple dams controlled by powerful state corporations that also work in The great hydrological transfer project To alleviate the chronicle lack of water from the country, including Beijing; besides, mining that extracts 132 Minerals that Tibet hides —among them gold, copper, and iron—, is causing a worrying increase in contamination of that water; and , finally, Tibetan leaders also consider the restrictions imposed on nomadic shepherds negative for the environment, whose forced sedentarization can break the fragile balance between the nature and activity of the human being.

For all this, The Tibetan Central Authority requires the participants of COP21 and China immediatelystart -up of ten measureswhich considers it essential to save Tibet. Among them, One of the most relevant is the rigorous implementation of the new Chinese Environmental Protection Law. "On paper is very appropriate legislation for Tibet, But we have to make sure that it is fulfilled, and that those who violate it are punished as collected in the regulations. Why, unfortunately, Corruption is an important obstacle that, Too many times, prevents the law from acting ", Tenzshay Aunta lekshay, Dalai Lama press responsible.

The government in exile also requires control over the environmental impact that tourism and economic development have little respectful of the environment. Not surprisingly, The increase in the number of visitors has been spectacular since the commissioning of the Transstibetan, A train that, besides, It also serves to export to the rest of China thousands of tons of the most precious natural resource of Tibet: the water. Marks like 5100 They advertise to hype and saucer that the content of their bottles comes from glaciers located at more than 5.000 Altitude meters, free of the pollution that he lills to the rest of the country.

With its high prices, These relatively recent brands compete with the waters of the Alps and delight China's upper class. They are an important source of income, So the regional government —official— intends to increase the export of bottled water from Tibet to five million cubic meters in 2020, which It means multiplying by 32 last year's production. One more time, As the Chinese NGO Water Risk denounces In a detailed report, The water industry acts without the minimum ethical consciousness enforceable and with the maximum impunity. Es, How the Tibetan government criticizes in exile, part of the plunder that is drying one of the main elements of the Asian ecosystem.