SCOTTISH PROJECTS
Samye Ling Stupa
Holy Island Stupas

THE HERITAGE PROJECT IN TIBET
Mani Wall at Simdzi
Holy Mountain of Drakar
Woodblock Printing at Dege

TIBETAN HERITAGE
Introduction
Medicine
Painting
Crafts
Structures and Settlements
Costume
Language
Printing
Dancing

The Quinghai-Tibet Plateau covers an area of 2.9 million sq kilometers (1.1million sq miles), covering an area about three times the combined size of the UK France and Germany. This plateau of an average altitude of 14,754 feet (4,500 metres) is bordered by the Kunlun and Qilian mountains in the north, the Tanglha mountains in the east and the Himalayas in the south and west . Only one percent of the land is arable with limited yields due to the dry cold climate.

The Tibetan plateau is known as the third pole for having the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar caps. These glaciers are the water source for one sixth of humanity. Scientists predict 80% of these glaciers will disappear within 30 years if current warming continues. The Himalayan glaciers on the Tibetan plateau have been among the most effected by global warming. The Himalayas contain a hundred times as much ice as the Alps. Seven Asian River systems originate on the Tibetan plateau and much of Asia depends on these and the monsoon rains that cross the Himalaya for irrigating agricultural land and drinking water.

The Tibetans revere and celebrate their land and have for thousands of years maintained a way of life and a religion based on living in harmony, cherishing and revering nature. Through their spiritual traditions Tibetans express their love for their land and of every living creature. Animals, mountains, rivers and the earth itself, a living body with its store of precious minerals, are all seen as expressions of Buddha Nature, the innate, undying and sacred universal essence of which mankind is also a manifestation.

Tibetan villagers, farmers and Lamas see catastrophic changes unfolding before them every day. According to a report made by a Greenpeace Expedition to Everest region this year (2007) the Abbot of Rongbuk monastery told them "I have noticed a reduction in the flow of the Rongbuk River every year and each year is hotter than the last. I am worried about the harsh future our children will suffer" Rongbuk monastery has also witnessed the decrease in winter snow which used to be chest high and now only reaches the monks' shins.

At 17,060 feet, a tiny village at the entrance of the Mount Everest Nature reserve which relied on the Rongbuk River for generations to irrigate crops has found that their annual highland barley crop is less than half what it used to be due to lack of irrigation.

More than a thousand square miles of glacier have disappeared during the last 30 years according to a recent survey and the retreat is accelerating due to global warming. It is estimated that Himalayan glaciers could shrink from 500,000 sq kilometers to 100,000 sq kilometres by 2030. In February 2007 the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reported that with 90% certainty global warming is caused by human behaviour. This report galvanized the EU to set targets for reduction of carbon emissions by 20% from 1990 - 2020. If the larger industrialized countries such as US, India and China set similar targets the target could be raised to 30%.

The Tibetan plateau and all high Asian terrain sets up large standing waves in the jet stream and in storm tracks and the deflected storm tracks draw more heat from the oceans than if flow were zonal. To an important degree the northern hemisphere climate patterns result from Tibet's effect on atmospheric flow.

Until now the 60,000 sq miles of glacier in Tibet, which are shrinking fast at a rate of 7% a year, have acted as a giant mirror reflecting the sun's rays back into space and this keeps a lid on global warming. In a warmer world the Tibetan plateau will turn from white to brown and grey and the whole of Tibet will become a much warmer place. This will affect the regularity and intensity of monsoons in India as well as the availability of fresh river water.

This year the UN has designated World Environment day's theme as "Melting Ice" - PLEASE HELP US TO SUPPORT AND HEAL THE TIBETAN ENVIRONMENT IN A WAY THAT TIBETANS THEMSELVES TRULY APPRECIATE AND UNDERSTAND.