WORLD WATER DAY

Dear Mike,

Today is World Water Day, an international day set aside to highlight the critical role of freshwater in our world. Tibet, known by many scientists as the "Third Pole," is home to some 40,000 glaciers and stores more freshwater than any region aside from the North and South poles. Tibet's glaciers also feed seven of Asia's great rivers, providing water for six million Tibetans and more than one billion people in 11 countries downstream.

TAKE ACTION: Tell China to Stop Polluting Tibet's Water

Under China's military occupation, Tibetans have been denied rightful control over their own natural resources. Decades of failed Chinese government policies and politically motivated industrialization in Tibet, including mining, dams, and logging, have polluted Tibet's great rivers with devastating consequences for both Tibetan communities and those downstream.

As the global community comes together today to recognize the importance of clean water, please take action to help protect Tibet's water resources for the Tibetan people, and for all those who rely on water from Tibet.

Send a letter to China's Minister of Environmental Protection, Zhou Shengxian, calling on the Chinese government to immediately cease mining, damming, and other harmful resource extraction projects in Tibet until Tibetans are in a position to freely determine the use of their own natural resources.

Given the importance of Tibet’s rivers to the rest of Asia, we are also urging the Chinese government to immediately engage in trans-boundary discussions with downstream states that have a stake in the future of Tibet's water. Your letter will be copied to UN-Water Chair Zahar Adeel who works to strengthen global coordination of freshwater resources.

Returning ownership of Tibet's resources to the Tibetan people is not only the right thing to do as a matter of justice, but it is also the most effective way to ensure that the water flowing from Tibet's great mountains will be protected for use by generations to come.

In solidarity,

Tendor, Kate, TenDolkar, Schuyler, Mary Kate and all of us at SFT HQ

Learn more about Tibet's water & environment:

Tibetan Plateau blog: http://tibetanplateau.blogspot.com/. This blog shares news, information, and perspectives on environmental and development issues in Tibet.

Tibet's Rivers Strangled by Dams: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Tibet%E2%80%99s%20Rivers%20Strangled%20by%20Dams&id=26950

Tibet's Water Pollution and China's "Global Warming": http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2009/12/tibets-water-pollution-and-chinas.html

China's plans to dam Tibet: http://tibetanplateau.blogspot.com/2010/02/dams-on-upper-reaches-of-yangtze-mekong.html

Mine Dispute Largely Settled: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/minedisputesettled-06092009162824.html

China says water pollution double official figure: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6180U320100209

Tibet: The World's 'Third Pole': http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/stories-interviews/tibet-the-world%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98third-pole%E2%80%99