China’s Climate Change Position Undermined Ahead of COP26

China’s Climate Change Position Undermined Ahead of COP26
Photo: Deji Cuonu, a young Tibet woman on Nojing Kangtsang glacier in 2007, Radio Free Asia.

Elle van der Cam

Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defense.

This week, world leaders are uniting in Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Starting on Sunday the 31st of October, the conference will continue for two weeks until the 12th of November 2021. Ahead of the conference, the Dalai Lama, being the spiritual leader of Tibet, has emphasized the importance for the most populous continent to pay more attention to the role of Tibet’s ecology and the global climate crisis (Lipes, 2021). In a prerecorded video, the leader highlights that Tibet is the ultimate source of water for many major rivers which flow through Asia. As such, Tibetans and environmentalists claim that China’s relentless exploitation of natural resources in Tibet, including logging, mining, and building dams, has not only undermined Tibetan traditions, but also has devastated an ecosystem that supports a third of humanity as the sources of these rivers (Lipes, 2021). Consequently, China’s position in relation to climate change has been undermined by its destructive policies in Tibet, which should spark interesting dialogue between the world leaders in the following two weeks. 

Sources and further reading:

China’s climate change stance seen undermined by destructive policies in Tibet, Radio Free Asia, 29 October 2021, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/climate-10292021193522.html

COP26, UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021, https://ukcop26.org/