China has planned to build the World’s biggest Hydroelectric dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). In November of last year, China’s state-owned media shared plans for a 60-gigawatt mega-dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Now with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, Beijing has redoubled its efforts on its hydropower projects in Tibet, even though the dams have drawn criticism from Tibetan rights groups and environmentalists. “Respect for nature is so deep-rooted,” said Dolmey, who was brought up among Tibetan exiles in India and now teaches Tibetan language and culture in Melbourne, Australia’s second-biggest city. “When we would swim in the rivers, we were told to never use it as a bathroom, because there are river gods in the water.” The Yarlung Tsangpo is of particular significance, as it represents the body of the goddess Dorje Phagmo, one of the highest incarnations in Tibetan culture. Since China, controlled by the Communist Party (CCP), annexed Tibet in 1950, Zamlha says Tibetans have lost all say in what happens on their land.
