Slide from Dr. Wolfgang Schwanghart's panel presentation on the connection between hydropower and flooding.
China’s massive hydropower push in occupied Tibet is not about “green energy”—it’s about control. Behind Beijing’s propaganda of “development and sustainability,” lies a darker truth: the exploitation of Tibet’s rivers threatens Asia’s environment, its people, and the very future of 1.8 billion downstream residents who depend on these lifelines.
At the 2025 World Water Week in Stockholm, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) hosted a panel titled “Water for Climate Action,” bringing together scientists, researchers, and policymakers to expose the growing climate and human rights dangers of China’s hydropower projects in Tibet (International Campaign for Tibet, 2025).
Tibet: Asia’s Water Tower Under Siege
The Tibetan Plateau, often called the “Third Pole” because it holds the largest reserve of freshwater outside the Arctic and Antarctic, is the source of Asia’s major rivers—including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, and Yangtze. These rivers sustain 1.8 billion people downstream across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, and beyond (Central Tibetan Administration, 2023).
Yet, instead of protecting this fragile ecosystem, China has turned Tibet’s rivers into tools of domination. Its relentless dam-building program threatens not only Tibetans’ cultural and spiritual ties to their land but also the food security and climate stability of Asia.
Xi Jinping’s Dam Strategy: Development or Destruction?
China claims its hydropower projects are “green energy solutions,” but as ICT’s Palmo Tenzin warned during the panel, this is simply a cover-up:
“Any conversation around Asia’s major rivers tends to exclude Tibet. This is not accidental—it is taboo for China, because Tibet is an occupied region. Without confronting that political reality, there will never be sustainable water management.”
China’s plan includes dozens of mega dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) and other rivers, projects that experts say will:
Expert Warnings: “Hydropower Exacerbates Disasters”
At the Stockholm session, Dr. Wolfgang Schwanghart of the University of Potsdam warned:
“Hydropower exacerbates destructive landslides and flash floods. They are vulnerable to earthquakes, especially in Tibet’s tectonic zones. At certain scales, dams themselves can even trigger earthquakes.”
His findings are supported by multiple studies, including research published in Nature Geoscience (2018), which confirmed that hydropower construction in seismically active regions like Tibet increases the risk of dam-induced earthquakes.
Similarly, Charlotte Wagner from the Stockholm Environment Institute emphasized that China’s obsession with damming rivers ignores climate realities:
“If we don’t take into account water availability and seasonal climate risks, we overstate the benefits of hydropower while the local communities in Tibet bear the costs.”
Human Rights and Environmental Justice in Tibet
China’s dams are not just engineering projects—they are instruments of cultural erasure and repression. ICT’s recent report, Chinese Hydropower: Damning Tibet’s Culture, Community, And Environment (2024), documented how Beijing’s projects:
The hydropower projects also continue China’s decades-long policy of Sinicization, undermining Tibetan identity and marginalizing local communities under the guise of “modernization.”
Why the World Must Act
As ICT’s Government Affairs Director Franz Matzner concluded:
“Old assumptions about hydropower no longer make sense. Climate change and the global water crisis demand revisiting these projects—especially in Tibet, where the stakes are existential for Asia.”
Tibet’s rivers are not just a Tibetan issue—they are a global issue. If China continues unchecked, its reckless dam-building will not only devastate Tibet’s environment and culture but will also create water insecurity and geopolitical instability across Asia.