How Chinese policies risk the existence of Tibetan herders.
By: Matteao Mecacci*
08 Sep 2017
IN THE SUMMER of this year, in Krakow, Poland, The decision was made to give UNESCO World Heritage status to a vast expanse of lakes and wetlands on the Roof of the World., The Tibet. China's nomination for Cultural Heritage distinction is indicative of the ambitious and vast policies looming over the Tibetan plateau; that is literally transforming the landscape of the largest and highest plateau in the world.
The UNESCO World Heritage mark is highly prized and sought after —since it brings more tourists—, and China is developing Tibet as a massive tourist destination. This approval by the World Heritage Committee is a result that the Chinese government had sought., taking into account an important meeting between top leaders, which was carried out on 18 october 2016. The president and leader of the Communist Party is expected, Xi Jinping, consolidate your power during the 19 Communist Party Congress in Beijing.
But there are unexpected consequences of granting this UNESCO brand recognition to this part of Tibet.. The area under discussion before the World Heritage Committee this summer was the Hoh Xil nature reserve, on the tibetan plateau (Anchen Gangyap, in Tibetan), a fragile area that is the origin of several rivers, which covers an area twice the size of Belgium and is rich in wildlife, including the iconic Tibetan antelope or chiru, which was chosen as the mascot for the Beijing Olympic Games. 2008.
Although China has described the area as “no man's land”, should be called, more appropriately, like a land of nomads. Tibetan pastoralists have made skilful use of the arid landscape in this area, along the plateau, for centuries, peacefully coexisting with wildlife and protecting the land. A Tibetan, Sonam Dargye, He has become a legend after being shot to death by poachers, because of his efforts to save the antelopes.
The involvement of Tibetans —and the nomads in particular— as administrators, It is essential for maintaining the well-being of ecosystems, long term, and for the sustainable management of water resources. China and Asia depend on the water in these areas.
But, despite these reasons, Recognizing this area as a World Heritage Site requires tacit acceptance by UNESCO., of the elaborate and ambitious Chinese state policies, who seek, among other things, to banish Tibetan nomads from their own lands.
The official policies of the Chinese Communist Party, to confiscate pastoral lands and displace nomads, gives authorities greater administrative control over people, their movements and lifestyles; this means that, since the year 2000, Tens of thousands of Tibetan herders have been forced to kill their livestock and move to housing colonies, in or near towns, so they abandon their traditional way of life. Many nomadic Tibetans from Hoh Xil and its adjacent areas, which are sources of rivers, They have already been displaced from their lands to urban areas, including the Golmud petrochemical and industrial center (in Tibetan, Gormo), a Qinghai, where they are forced to live in concrete complexes, in which they face enormous difficulties, due to cultural differences, social and linguistic, and the competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis Chinese workers, which leads to greater poverty, to the breakdown of the social fabric and the deterioration of the environment.
These policies not only threaten one of the last sustainable grazing systems in the world, But scientific evidence shows that they threaten the survival of Tibetan grasslands and biodiversity.. There is global consensus that, when settling the nomads, goes against evidence that grazing reduces the impact of grassland degradation; This indicates that the mobility of livestock ensures the vitality of pasture areas and helps mitigate the negative impacts of global warming..
China recently announced that it is considering transforming a vast area of the Qinghai Plateau into a large national park.. On the surface this appears to be a positive act., but ¿Wasn't it perhaps the Dalai Lama who proposed that Tibet be recognized as a zone of peace?? ¿And did President Xi Jinping not say that he wanted China to be an “ecological civilization”??
But this event is not what it seems. When an area is declared a national park within China, grazing is prohibited, since this land use activity is labeled as a “threat”; and so are the traditional Tibetan activities of the shepherds, how to collect medicinal herbs. This means the removal of nomads who have long protected the landscape and threatens the survival of pastoralism., Tibetan ways of life and culture along the plateau.
And while the Tibetans are expelled, Chinese tourists and security personnel are allowed. National Park status is imposed from the top and bottom, placing the State as the only one that has control and that ignores the concerns and knowledge of local people.
These facts are of growing concern., even within China. A growing number of Chinese professors and grassland experts have become critical of Chinese policies., arguing that it is a series of erroneous laws that have caused the degradation and overexploitation of grasslands and not the herders. More of 200 research articles have been published within China, which document scientific discoveries around findings that no longer confirm the dominant narrative of Chinese leadership.
Professor Li Wenjun is one of these voices; has found that forcibly settling large numbers of herders, inside towns, only exacerbates poverty and worsens water scarcity. In published studies he has said that grazing practices benefit the land. “We argue that a food production system, like that of the Tibetan shepherds, that has been sustainable for centuries, using little water, "It's the best there is.", wrote in a recent article.
Other Chinese scholars have been deeply influenced by the spiritual values underlying the nomadic relationship with the environment.. A Tibetan nomad explained to us: “Grassland lands are both the source and home of life for Tibetan cattle ranchers and herders.. We Tibetans, since ancient times, We have been living in the meadows surrounded by snow-capped mountains and under the blue sky. We mainly depend on animal husbandry, our people have eaten well and lived happily for generations and generations. We believe in Buddhism. We have lived in harmony with nature. This is what makes our Tibetan culture unique., and makes it attract the attention of developed countries”.
When China's top leaders meet in Beijing for the Communist Party Congress, in october, would do well to consider the question of “ecological civilization” from Tibet, beyond party rhetoric. Like the Third Pole, Tibet is the source of the most important rivers in Asia and of critical importance to the rest of the world, not only for Tibet and the people of China.
This is a crucial time to listen to Tibetans, who are at the forefront of skillful work to protect the environment; also to those within the People's Republic of China who understand that displacing Tibetan nomads from their grasslands into concrete ghettos or industrial cities is deeply counterproductive., which risks the annihilation of a sustainable way of life, endemically adapted to the harsh landscape of the high plateau.
As environmentalist Lu Zie concludes: “We Chinese often ask ourselves what works best: laws based on punishment or economic incentives based on financial rewards. But the Buddhist system is totally different: It comes from the depths of people's hearts.".
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* The author is president of the International Campaign for Tibet (Translation: Frame A. Karam)
