Dalai Lama says climate change destroying Tibet’s ‘roof on the world’

The Dalai Lama on Tuesday urged strong global action to limit global warming and to protect fragile environments, including the Himalayan glaciers and Tibetan plateau. Calling climate change a “problem which human beings created”, the 80-year-old Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader said all of humanity was now responsible for taking action. But instead, he said, “we are relying on praying to God or to Buddha. Sometimes I feel this is very illogical." He issued his plea in a pre-taped video released as part of a campaign launched by the Tibetan government-in-exile in the north Indian hill town of Dharmsala, where the Dalai Lama has been based since fleeing a Chinese military crackdown in Tibet.

This is not a question of one nation or two nations. This is a question of humanity. Our world is our home.

Dalai Lama

Acknowledging his advanced years, the Dalai Lama appealed to younger generations to "take a more active role in protecting this planet, including the Tibetan plateau”. Temperatures for Tibet’s high-altitude plateau — referred to as the Roof of the World — are rising about three times faster than the global average, and are 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than they were 50 years ago. The government-in-exile also argued that Tibetans should be restored as the “true stewards” of the plateau, which has been under Chinese rule for decades and where Tibetans accuse Beijing of mining indiscriminately while forcing nomadic communities to move elsewhere.

Tibetan nomads are the expert custodians of the alpine pastures, and their knowledge and experience must be recognised.

Exiled government’s prime minister, Lobsang Sangay

World Dalai Lama