Dalai Lama On Climate Change

2. (C) The Dalai Lama argued that the political agenda should be sidelined for five to ten years and the international community should shift its focus to climate change on the Tibetan plateau. Melting glaciers, deforestation, and increasingly polluted water from mining projects were problems that "cannot wait." The Dalai Lama criticized China's energy policy, alleging that dam construction in Kham and Amdo have displaced thousands of Tibetans and left temples and monasteries underwater. He recommended the PRC compensate Tibetans for disrupting their nomadic lifestyle with vocational training, such as weaving.

3. (C) The Dalai Lama requested the United States consider engaging China on environmental issues in Tibet and suggested increased collaboration between U.S. and Chinese scientists. The Ambassador assured the Dalai Lama that President Obama remained concerned about climate change and specifically asked him to address the issue in India and the region.

And why he's right:

Meanwhile, beyond the Himalayas, the profound and irreversible impacts of dramatic environmental changes are overtaking politics as a threat to the Tibetan way of life. The signs are everywhere: in melting permafrost; changes in surface water on the grasslands; disrupted rainfall patterns; and the retreat of most of the Himalayan glaciers – the largest store of ice outside the north and south poles.

Score another for wikileaks.