Catastrophe on the Roof of the World
The Tibetan Plateau is home to vast glacial reserves, constituting the largest store of fresh water outside the Arctic and the Antarctic. It is also the source of ten major Asian river systems - including the Yellow and Yangtze rivers of mainland China, the Mekong, Salween, and Irrawaddy rivers of Southeast Asia, and the Indus and Brahmaputra of South Asia - which supply water to nearly 20 percent of the global population. For over two decades, China has been engaged in an aggressive dam-building programme, centered on – though not limited to – the Tibetan Plateau, notes Brahma Chellaney in this article for
Project Syndicate. He suggests that China must share real-time hydrological data and submit its projects for international environmental assessments, including unfettered access to the Plateau to gather vital data and conduct unbiased analyses.
https://www.project-syndicate.org
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