On March 14, International Day of Action for Rivers, SFT-India Campaigns Director and Program Coordinator went to the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati to raise awareness of the deteriorating condition of Tibet’s rivers, especially Yarlung Tsangpo which flows into India and Bangladesh. Along with students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, they displayed banners reading Tibet’s Rivers, Asia’s Lifeline and Tsangpo-Brahmaputra | Say No to Zangmu Dam on the Brahmaputra river, downstream from the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet.
China operationalised its first mega-dam Zangmu on the Yarlung Tsangpo in November 2015. They have plans to build a few more mega-dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo, before it enters India, leaving a dire situation for downstream communities in India an Bangladesh.
Tibet is the source of the ten major Asian river systems, feeding nearly 1.3 billion people in South and South-East Asia. China’s relentless mega-dam projects, mining activities and water diversion plans have already started creating grave concerns for downstream communities. Tibetans inside Tibet have employed civil resistance and nonviolent direct action techniques to oppose some of these projects.
