China’s Water Grab in Tibet Risks Regional Devastation and Conflict
Oct 6, 2017
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Nithin Coca
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China’s unchecked mining expansion and dam construction across the Tibetan plateau, compounded by climate change melting glaciers, are threatening the Yellow, Yangtze, Ganges and other rivers that hundreds of millions of people depend on, say observers calling for talks on a looming crisis. According to a report released by the Australian Tibet Council, 1.4 billion people in downstream countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar depend on water from rivers which have their sources in Chinese-occupied Tibet. The risk of lower water quantity and quality downstream is growing. “It is sneaking up the international policy agenda,” says John Jones of Free Tibet. “At the moment... it is perceived as a regional problem rather than the global problem it will become.”