‘Tibet – A Human Development and Environment Report’ is by far the most rigorous and comprehensive assessment of the wellbeing of both the land and the people of Tibet. It is the culmination of many years of research, using all available information and with contributions from leading researchers, both Tibetan and Western.

Generally speaking, winning the sympathy and support of influential politicians, bureaucrats, indeed anyone with the power to force changes, requires hard facts. And while Tibetans have long been aware of the social, economic and environmental impacts of over fifty years of coercive reforms, authoritative empirical data on which to build their case has often been lacking.

Explicitly acknowledging the interconnectedness of Tibetans with their environment and of Tibet with the wider world, the 270-page report covers issues as diverse as unemployment and social exclusion, the damming of Tibet’s rivers and the effects of tourism on Tibetan culture.

Recent case studies are used to explore the strengths and pitfalls of different development strategies within the Tibetan context. Importantly, the report seeks ‘not to attribute blame but to understand how the present situation came to be, and how best to act in the future’. Repeatedly, the insidious consequences of seemingly beneficial socioenvironmental policies are exposed. So too are the sometimes spectacular failures resulting from applying a uniform Chinese development model to the unique and fragile ecology of Tibet. With reliable information from inside Tibet, it is possible to cut through the propaganda and explain how China’s heavy investments in Tibet have actually increased poverty among rural Tibetans – displacing nomads from their rangelands, depriving them of their traditional livelihood and driving them to the cities, where without Chinese language fluency they are unable to gain a foothold in the new industries.

The many and varied impacts of China’s rapid development and industrialization project in Tibet - soil-loss through over-grazing and clear-felling, climate-related impacts including the parching of Tibet’s major rivers (upon which billions downstream rely for irrigation and drinking water) and the myriad of impacts related to natural resource extraction - are all carefully documented. The report presents concrete, balanced and pragmatic proposals for the future sustainable habitation of the Tibetan Plateau. As Tibetans have long argued, genuine autonomy is a necessary precursor to the sustainable development of Tibet. Revealingly, in recent decades rural Tibetans have had no input into decisions on the future economy, social fabric or environmental management of Tibet.

Reading this new report, one is quickly led to one overarching and undeniable conclusion: It is vital that Tibetans, the custodians of thousands of years’ of knowledge and techniques for flourishing sustainably on the roof of the world, be full participants in shaping the future of Tibet. Should China continue to ignore this simple fact, it will continue to exact an enormous toll on Tibet, China and the world at large.

You can download the chapters of the report here.