<
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/chinas-qinghai-tibet-ecosystem-legislation-is-a-landmark-but-for-whom-commentary/>
"In April, the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative branch, passed
the “Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) Ecosystem Protection Act” (hereafter referred
to as the QTP Act). The QTP Act is China’s first legislative vision for the
environmental protection of the Tibetan plateau and its surroundings, covering
an area of 2.6 million km2, larger than the entirety of western Europe. The act
is hailed as a legislative “landmark” by state-sponsored Chinese media and
follows a series of laws that provide a legal backbone for resolving China’s
regional environmental issues along the Yangtze River (2020), Yellow River
(2022), and the Northeastern Plains (2022).
But unlike previous regional legislation, effects of the QTP Act could ripple
far beyond China’s administrative borders. For example, major international
rivers such as the Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Irrawaddy and Salween flow from
the heights of the Tibetan plateau, thus its nickname “water tower” for 1.5
billion people in Asia. The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR, a province-level
administrative region of China established after the annexation of Tibet)
shares a 2,000 km border with Nepal, Bhutan, India and Pakistan.
Together with China, these five Himalayan nations account for the world’s
first, second and fifth most populous countries. Loosely regulated dam
construction along the Tibetan segment of the Brahmaputra River (referred to as
Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan), is among one of many bones of contention along the
flammable Sino-India border. The 10 million people living on the QTP, as well
as China’s Himalayan neighbors, have vested interest in how China decides to
maintain the “water tower of Asia”— especially as its ice reserves continue to
dwindle due to climate change. These administrative legalities are laid out in
the QTP Act.
Each Mongabay commentary starts with a
mea culpa (“views expressed are those
of the author”), but I’d like to put my cards on the table—literally. I hold a
resident ID issued by the People’s Republic of China. I present my ID at major
checkpoints when conducting research across TAR. My research activities are
under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government, whose legislation I am about
to comment on. Catch 22: readers can be (and reasonably should be) suspicious
of me promoting propaganda; meanwhile my colleagues in China are (equally
reasonably) wary of me courting a “western” audience by biting the hands that
feed us.
I’m here to do neither."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews-stunting-ocean-australia-wind-solar-europe/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
