The Tibetan plateau that has third largest store of ice and is the source of water for six great rivers in Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change and global warming. Studies have warned that two-thirds of the glaciers will disappear by 2050.
In a conference about climate change on Earth His Highness, the 14th Dalai Lama asked the world to protect the Blue Planet as there will be no other planet where we can move if we continue to destroy and degrade our planet.
The spiritual leader of Tibetans was echoing the sentiments similar to that expressed by Pope Francis a few days back.
The Tibetan plateau also called the as the “roof of the world” is facing ecological degradation on an unprecedented scale. The Tibetan plateau has seen rising temperatures of 1.3 degree Celsius in the past half a century. It is three times the global average. The spiritual leader demanded a stake in the international climate talks later this year.
Tibet has an average altitude of 4,000 metres and is very vulnerable to global warming and associated climate changes. Global warming has already led to the melting of glaciers that feed major rivers in the region and supports 1.3 billion people.
Dalai Lama added that the Tibetan Plateau needs to be protected. It is not the Tibetans but the question of the environmental health and sustainability of the entire world. The spiritual leader called the Tibetan plateau the Third Pole.
The Dalai Lama issued the statement from Dharamshala where the Tibetan Government in Exile is based since 1959 when the Dalai Lama along with his entourage had fled after China occupied Tibet.
More than 200 nations will gather in Paris in December and try to seek a solution to slow down man-made climate changes and keeping the temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
