The one-day Conference was held on the 4th November 2014 at the Nyatri Hall of the Central Tibetan Administration as a part of the Tibet Policy Institute’s annual conference on Tibet aimed to bring to the notice of the Tibetan community the enormous economic and development changes that are transforming the lives of the Tibetan people in Tibet, for better or worse. Hon. Kalon Dekyi Choyang gave the inaugural address by sharing her ten years of experience of living in Tibet witnessing the adverse effect of environmental degradation caused by development projects on the lives of the Tibetan people. While emphasizing the importance of holding more such discussions, she advised the Tibetan people living inside and outside Tibet, particularly the educated younger generations to pay more attention to try and influence to address the adverse effect of the developmental projects in Tibet.
The main speaker of the conference, Dr. Emily Ting Yeh, Chair of the Department of Geology of the University of Colorado, gave a comprehensive talk on the “Climate Change-related challenges facing Tibetan pastoralists” with reference to her recently published book entitled “Taming Tibet-Landscape transformation and the Gifts of Chinese Development”.
The Research Fellows of TPI shared their research findings on various Tibet related topics like resettlement of Tibetan nomads, military and economic implications of the railway line in Tibet, comparative analysis of Tibet’s past and present economy, model Schools in Tibet, ‘Sino-Indian relations, and ‘Xi Jinping and anti-corruption campaign.
On the 6th November, the Research Fellows of TPI have had the opportunity to present their research works, discuss and seek expert opinion and advices from Dr. Emily T. Yeh so as to further improve the quality of their research work.
Kalon Dicki Chhoyang la and Dr. Emily T. Yeh