Omsiggribende minedrift efter guld, sølv og kobber går ud over tibetanske hyrdefolk, som tvangsforflyttes fra deres århundredgamle græsgange til en uvis fremtid, siger kilder i Tibets eksil-regering i Indien – Himalayalandet har været besat af kineserne siden 1950.
Tibetan officials in Dharamashala, India, which hosts the office of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, say that between 1,5 and two million Tibetan pastoralists (nomadefolk) have been forcibly displaced from their pastoral lands, while mines for gold, silver and copper ore extraction have been mushrooming (skudt op som paddehatte).
They say that of the more than 130 self-immolations (selvmord ved at sætte ild til sig selv) by Tibetans since 2008, about 20 were by members of the nomadic community who were forced to leave their pastoral lands, writes BBC online Friday.
“Tibetans who have come from [the region] as refugees have told us that Chinese authorities warned [via loudspeaker] that anyone who protested against mining would be seen as protesting against the state because China needs natural resources to develop”, said Tenzin Norbu, who heads the environmental desk at the Central Tibetan Administration office in Dharamashala.
“The Chinese government says the pastoralists are being resettled mainly to conserve the grassland that it claims is being degraded because of unsustainable pastoral practices,” said Jigme Norbu, a researcher.
“But what you are seeing is that these Tibetans are being removed so that their age-old pastoral lands can be rampantly mined and that actually has led to huge environmental destruction”, added he.
“In area after area where China has officially proclaimed the depopulated zones to be national parks, protected areas, nature reserves, in reality, mines are popping up”, Gabriel Lafitte, an author on Tibet, noted.
