A CHARMING NEW DOCO Tibetans in exile, and their supporters, chronically politicise everything they learn about what is happening inside Tibet; maybe they forget there are other lenses. However, there are other ways of approaching reality, and in today’s China those approaches can occasionally come from Chinese film-makers taking a fresh look at situations that […]
from a small book of essays, poetry and art on the Soil and the Earth, edited by Vandana Shiva, celebrating the International Year of Soils, 2015 ********************** That the soils of the Tibetan Plateau exist at all is remarkable. This vast island in the sky is, in planetary history, so new, so high and still […]
WILL TIBET WATER CHINA NORTH AND SOUTH? China’s completion of the two routes channelling water from the Yangtze far to the north, to water deficit northern China, sets the scene for one of the biggest decisions China will make in the coming year. The decision facing China’s leaders in 2015 is whether to now go […]
Why is it “inefficient” to save the lives of mothers? This is the first in a series of four blogposts on why so many women in Tibet die in childbirth, usually alone, bleeding to death. As with almost anything to do with Tibet, even the basic facts are contested. As we rapidly approach the fulfilment […]
Traditional Tibetan sciences of healing, and Community Health Workers Second in a series of four blogs on why so many Tibetan women die in childbirth, and what fresh solutions may be possible. The first in this series canvassed the conventional explanations, which both reach the pessimistic conclusion that as long as Tibetan nomads occupy remote […]
Reaching out to remote women: Sciences of healing, Sowa Rigpa and Community Health Workers In the first two blogs, we asked why it is that well into the 21st century, on the eve of declaring China the great success story of the Millennium Development Goals, so many Tibetan women still bleed alone to death as […]
New hope for the women of Tibet: Sciences of healing, Sowa Rigpa and Community Health Workers This is the fourth of four blogs on the number of Tibetan women dying in childbirth, at a rate equivalent to some of the poorest places on earth, and what can be done. The first blog took up two […]
What’s in a name: SHIGATSE AND CHAMDO BECOME CITIES China has declared Shigatse and Chamdo henceforth to be municipalities, rebadging not only two of the bigger towns in Tibet but their entire prefectures, which are largely rural, mountainous and mineraliferous. What to make of this? Just a shuffle of administrative nomenclature? Hardly. In China’s […]
HOW TIBETANS FARED AT THE WORLD PARKS CONGRESS 2014 When China gains leadership of global institutions, everything shifts. The urbane, talented Chinese who now head the World Health Organisation and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are pioneers in what will be an accelerating trend. Talented as these individuals are, China sees their ascent […]
What is really happening in protected areas in China BY ENVIRONMENT DESK OF TIBET POLICY INSTITUTE, INDIA For IUCN World Parks Congress 2014 When a government declares an area protected that’s good. When state power draws a red line round a large area, designating it a nature reserve, that’s good, right? Not always. […]