phayul.com
Tenzin Monlam
November 24, 2015
McKenna/file
DHARAMSHALA, November 24: The Canada Tibetan Committee (CTC) on Monday urged Catherine McKenna, Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to include climate action in Tibet as core concern during the upcoming global climate conference COP21 in Paris.
The CTC on November 18 sent a letter to the minister with a request to urge the Chinese Government to ‘re-assess its economic development policies in relation to their impact on climate change in Tibet and on the downstream countries of Asia.’
“While the Government of China is not solely responsible for climate change in Tibet, it is responsible for taking the steps needed to mitigate its impacts, said Carole Samdup, Executive Director of the Canada Tibet Committee.
“This includes avoiding policies that exacerbate the problem such as unregulated mining, forced removal of nomadic communities from their grasslands, and excessive damming of rivers.”
The committee also highlighted the importance of Human Rights in relation to climate action and the restriction of Freedom of Expression imposed by Beijing and lack of access to information in Tibet.
It also recommended the Canadian government to engage with representatives of the Central Tibetan Administration who will participate in the Paris Conference.
The roof of the world or the earth’s third pole’s environment has been under severe pressure from excessive mining, deforestation, nuclear waste dumping and construction of huge dams. The world’s highest plateau encompasses 46,000 glaciers that act as the source of Asia’s six largest rivers catering fresh water to over 2 billion people.
McKenna, a human rights and social justice lawyer, was appointed Minister of Environment and Climate Change in Justin Trudeau’s first cabinet on November 4, 2015.
