Tibetan Government in-Exile Minister Dicki Chhoyang speaking at the 5th All India Tibet Support Groups Conference here described the region as one of the most environmentally strategic and sensitive regions in the world.
She urged the UN to ask world leaders to put the Tibetan plateau in climate change agenda and be central to climate change discussions at the upcoming Paris COP21 climate negotiations.
The minister said the international community and neighbouring countries should recognise the global significance of the Tibetan Plateau and make it a key issue during any discussion on global climate change.
The Chinese government, she observed, must rigorously enforce its environmental protection law to halt the widespread environmental destruction resulting in soil erosion, deforestation, extinction of wildlife, overgrazing and uncontrolled mining.
The Chinese government should also conduct socially responsible mining as it has impact on the local population, she said, adding that the country's grassland policies and laws restricted the flexibility and mobility of Tibetan nomads and forced largescale settlements.
