Tibet Support Group Puts Tibetan Plateau Climate Crisis on the Map at National Climate March

Activists from Tibet Support Group Netherlands at the National Climate March on 26 October 2025.

On 26 October, Tibet Support Group Netherlands (TSG-NL) joined the National Climate March on the Malieveld in The Hague to draw international attention to the severe environmental destruction taking place in Tibet under Chinese rule. The TSG-NL demonstrators highlighted how China’s reckless policies — such as overexploitation of rivers, mining, and forced resettlement of Tibetans — are accelerating the climate crisis on the world’s “Third Pole.”

Tibet: Asia’s Water Tower in Crisis

The Tibetan Plateau, often called the “Third Pole” due to its vast ice reserves after the North Pole and South Pole, is under unprecedented pressure. The glaciers lose eight billion tons of ice annually, and recent research shows that Himalayan glaciers have been disappearing 65 percent faster since 2010 than in the previous decade.

Tibet serves as the water source for more than 1.3 billion people in ten countries. Major Asian river systems such as the Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze, Yellow River, Indus, and Salween all originate on the Tibetan Plateau. The destruction of this ecosystem has direct consequences for the water supply, food production, and livelihoods of billions of people downstream in China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan.

The delegation emphasized the connection between human rights and climate justice.

China’s Systematic Environmental Destruction

The Chinese regime is accelerating the climate crisis in Tibet through a combination of devastating policies:

Dams and water diversion: China has constructed more than 87,000 dams that together generate 325 GW of energy — more than Brazil, the United States, and Canada combined. Since 2000, 193 hydropower projects have been initiated in Tibet, of which 60 percent are still in the planning or preparation phase. The most recent megaproject involves the world’s largest hydropower plant in eastern Tibet with a planned investment of 1.2 trillion yuan (167 billion dollars).

Large-scale mining: Lithium mining poisons Tibetan rivers with heavy metals, threatening both the local ecosystem and the traditional livelihoods of Tibetan herders and farmers. Mining accelerates soil erosion, water contamination, and loss of biodiversity.

Forced resettlement: Thousands of Tibetan nomads are being driven from their land to make way for Chinese infrastructure projects, military facilities, and mining operations. This destroys not only traditional ways of life but also centuries-old sustainable land management practices that protected the ecosystem.

Militarization: The increased military presence on the plateau causes melting permafrost and glaciers through heightened industrial activity and infrastructure development.

Devastating Predictions for 2100

Scientific research from 2024 paints an alarming picture. Climate experts predict that by the end of this century, Tibet will have warmed by 5°C and will have lost two-thirds of its glacier ice.

According to various emission scenarios, glacier surface area on the Tibetan Plateau will:

• Under the low-emission scenario (SSP1-2.6): decrease by 10.92%
• Under the medium scenario (SSP2-4.5): decrease by 25.44%
• Under the high-emission scenario (SSP5-8.5): decrease by 55.42%

This glacier melt directly threatens the water supply of 1.8 billion people in China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. China’s plan to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra alone would affect 140 million people who depend on this river.

Tibet and the Broader Struggle Against Chinese Oppression

The participation of the Tibet Support Group in the National Climate March underscored a crucial connection: climate justice is inextricably linked to human rights and democracy. The Tibet climate activists emphasized that the authoritarian oppression and persecution of the Tibetan people by the Chinese Communist Party extends to systematic environmental destruction.

Activists carried Tibetan flags and banners to raise awareness about the Third Pole crisis.

The environmental destruction in Tibet is not an isolated phenomenon but part of a broader pattern of Chinese state repression. The Uyghur region of Xinjiang is also undergoing similar environmental destruction through Chinese industrialization, forced labor, and large-scale land seizures. Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others who stand up for democracy and environmental protection are systematically suppressed, censored, and persecuted.

This parallel struggle underscores that resistance against the Chinese Communist Party is not only about political freedom for Tibetans and other peoples oppressed by China, but also about protecting our planet and guaranteeing a livable future for everyone.

International Neglect of the Third Pole

Despite the crucial importance of the Tibetan Plateau for the global climate and Asian water supply, the international community and the climate movement continue to largely ignore the crisis. During COP29 in December 2024, it became clear once again that the “Third Pole” receives barely any attention in global climate negotiations.

This neglect is all the more remarkable because the environmental destruction in Tibet has direct consequences for:

• Global sea level rise: Melting Himalayan glaciers contribute significantly to rising oceans
• Asian water security: 1.3 billion people dependent on Tibetan rivers
• Biodiversity: The plateau harbors unique ecosystems that are disappearing
• Climate regulation: The Tibetan Plateau plays a crucial role in Asian monsoon patterns

China’s refusal to allow international oversight of environmental projects in Tibet and its suppression of Tibetan environmental activists make independent monitoring virtually impossible.

A Call for International Action

The Tibet Support Group emphasized during the march that every global climate discussion must address the environmental destruction in Tibet. Ignoring the Third Pole crisis undermines all international climate efforts.

The group called on the international community to:

• Recognize Tibet’s crucial role in the Asian water system
• Exert pressure on China for transparency regarding environmental projects in Tibet
• Include Tibetan voices in climate discussions
• Incorporate environmental destruction in Tibet into climate reports and treaties
• Consider sanctions against Chinese companies involved in devastating mining and dam projects

Tibet Support Group Netherlands Calls For

Tibet Support Group Netherlands urgently calls on the Dutch government and the European Union to:

1. Explicitly put Tibet’s climate crisis on the agenda in all bilateral and multilateral contacts with China and link it to EU climate policy.

2. Demand independent research into the environmental effects of Chinese dams, mining projects, and infrastructure development on the Tibetan Plateau, with free access for international scientists and environmental organizations.

3. Guarantee Tibetan participation in international climate discussions, recognizing that Tibetans themselves know best how to manage their land sustainably — as they did for centuries before China occupied the region.

4. Exert economic pressure by imposing import restrictions on minerals and products from Tibet extracted through ecologically devastating practices, and excluding companies involved in environmental destruction in Tibet from European markets.

5. Provide support to Tibetan refugees who had to flee their land due to Chinese environmental destruction and forced resettlement programs.

6. Recognize Tibet’s water systems as a crucial common good for all of Asia and advocate for international protection status and oversight of Chinese projects that threaten the water supply of downstream countries.

The climate crisis on the Tibetan Plateau is not a local problem — it is a global emergency that requires immediate international action. By ignoring Tibet’s environmental justice, we fail not only the Tibetan people but also the 1.3 billion people who depend on the rivers that originate on the Third Pole of our planet.