By Hank Pellisier
Ethical Technology | Institute For Emerging Ethics & Technologies
27 July 2012
¿China conquered the Himalayan theocracy to “liberate the peasants”? No. ¿It was because he coveted the agricultural land of Tibet.? No, only the 3% it is arable. ¿Minerals? a little closer. ¿What is the fundamental value of the “roof of the world”? three syllables: H2O
Tibet has more fresh water –known as “blue gold”- than any other place on the planet, except the North and South Poles. With an average of 11 thousand feet altitude, Tibet contains 1000 lakes and a huge snow freezer in the Himalayan skyscrapers. Melted, It is the source of seven monstrous rivers: the Yangtze, the yellow, el Mekong, the ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Salween.
Rivers are the fundamental life blood of humanity, essential for hydration, irrigation and industry. Possession of Tibet gives China absolute power over the arteries of South Asia, where near 2 Billions of people reside in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Burma.
Mega dams are easily built by China, They built the largest in the world in Three Gorges. They have raised the astonishing number of 28.500 large dams, and 80 thousand in total, the largest amount in the world. Hydropower is China's initial attempt at dams in the Himalayas (he 90% of rural Tibet will have electricity in the 2015) but water diversion is tempting for the thirsty population of 1.3 trillion. Although China has the 20% of the world population, only has a supply of 7% fresh water.
13 Chinese provinces have suffered from drought since 2010 and vast regions are usually parched, like the vast Xinjiang of the northwest. ¿Pipes from Tibet could carry taps to distant distances from the Middle Kingdom? Li Ling, autor de Tibet’s Water Will Save China (Tibet Water will save China), believes that this is essential for the future of China.
Michael Buckley –producer of the documentary “Melt in Tibet”- points out that, "he 60% of Chinese leaders have an engineering background and many have vested interests in companies (responsible for building) the dams. ¿What are your intentions? India Today reports that “the dragons” are “excited about the South to North Water Transfer Project.” 62 billions of dollars. Its objective is to divert 44.8 billions of cubic meters of water per year from southern China to the Yellow River basin in arid northern China”. Several different water diversion projects are under discussion.
Below is a brief report on the five great “international rivers”.” that have their headquarters in Tibet:
Indus River- in 2009, the british journalist, Alice Albina –author of Empires of the Indus- discovered that China was secretly building a huge dam on a tributary of the Indus, a Senge-Ali, in western Tibet. This caused only a minor shock to the very close relationship between the two nations.. two years ago, China Three Gorges Project Corporation, proposed a plan 15 billions of dollars to Pakistan, on Pakistani soil, that would block the Indus River at several points. Dams would control the devastating floods that regularly engulf Pakistan, and they would provide the much needed hydropower, making it possible for Pakistan to develop its gas resources, oil and coal. The generosity of the Chinese offer is representative of the alliance. China is Pakistan's largest arms supplier, your third business partner, supported Pakistan's war against India in 1965, and assists Pakistan's civil nuclear program. All this frustrates and alarms India, of course. Dams on the Indus ¿They will give China influence over Pakistan? He 92% Pakistan is dependent on the Indus River system, with a 50% of its population working in agriculture.
Río Mekong- The Mekong is the longest river in Southeast Asia, meandering 4880 kilometers towards the South China Sea. China is building 8 dams here, the first in Manwan, It was built without consulting its downstream neighbors. 60 millions of people depend on the river for food; Particularly at risk are fish stocks in Cambodia's huge Tonle Sap lake, and the rice bowl of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. China's fourth Mekong dam, in Xiaowan, It is the highest in the world, a 292 meters high. The Mekong is the second most biodiverse river on the planet, only behind the Amazon. Has 781 freshwater fish species, including a giant catfish that can grow to be as long as a car.
Ganges River- Tibet provides the largest tributaries of the Ganges, the one with the most densely populated riverbank in the world. Revered as “Mother Ganges”” in India, It is even more important for Bangladesh, where it enters the Bay of Bengal, in the largest delta in the world. Two-thirds of all agriculture and fishing occurs here on the fertile floodplains. Currently, There are only two dams on the Ganges, both in India. Any construction by China that sabotages the flow of this sacred but terribly polluted river, would be met with Hindu wrath.
Salween River – this long river of 2.815 kilometers long, flows through China, Burma and Thailand, towards the Andaman Sea. Called A (Angry River) in mandarin, This fast and beautiful watercourse runs through the Grand Canyon of the East. A United Nations assessment described this region as “perhaps the most biologically diverse ecosystem in the world.”” con 80 Endangered species, including snow leopards and snub-nosed monks. When China announced that 13 dams would be built on the Salween, there were vigorous campaigns by Chinese activists, surprising, because opposition to Beijing often ends in prison sentences. China is also helping its ally Burma build dams in its northern regions.; These constructions are vilified because they threaten ethnic tribes such as the Shan and the Karenni. http://www.salweenwatch.org/index.php
Bramaputra River – The last but the most important is the Brahmaputra, name meaning son of Brahma, hindu god. China after having vigorously denied it for more than a decade, try to build 28 dams on the Brahmaputra, much to the dismay of India and Bangladesh. Chinese designs include the use of “peaceful nuclear explosions” and the construction of a station with twice the hydraulic power of the Three Gorges Dam. A proposal aims to transport water from Shuomatan, Tibet, to Tianjin city, on the northeast coast of China, via Shuotian canal. Boosters believe this would resolve China's demand for more water, electricity, grains and oil, and would alleviate pollution. But… ¿Would this impact the flow to India, that has in this river the 30% of its fresh water? China offers guarantees but the concern in India is illustrated in a video that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhx6NxKe8RE (english language)
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