POLICY REGARDING THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER RESOURCES ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU.

SEC. 343. POLICY REGARDING THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER RESOURCES ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU. (a) Findings.—Congress finds the following: (1) The Tibetan Plateau contains glaciers, rivers, grasslands, and other geographical and ecological features that are crucial for supporting vegetation growth and biodiversity and regulating water flow and supply for an estimated 1,800,000,000 people. Environmental changes threaten the glaciers in Tibet that feed the major rivers of South and East Asia, which supply freshwater to an estimated 1,800,000,000 people. (2) Several factors, including temperature changes, large government-backed infrastructure projects, and resettlement of Tibetan nomads, are likely to result in variable water flows in the future. (3) The grasslands of Tibet play a significant role in carbon production and sequestration and Tibet’s rivers support wetlands that play a key role in water storage, water quality, and the regulation of water flow, support biodiversity, foster vegetation growth, and act as carbon sinks. (4) Traditional Tibetan grassland stewardship practices, which can be key to mitigating the negative effects of environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau, are undermined by the resettlement of nomads from Tibetan grasslands. (5) The People’s Republic of China has approximately 20 percent of the world’s population but only around 7 percent of the world’s water supply, while many countries in South and Southeast Asia rely on the rivers flowing from the Himalayas of the Tibetan Plateau. (6) The People’s Republic of China has already completed water transfer programs diverting billions of cubic meters of water yearly and has plans to divert more waters from the Tibetan plateau in China. (b) Water Resources in Tibet and the Tibetan Watershed.—The Secretary of State, in coordination with relevant agencies of the United States Government, should— (1) pursue collaborative efforts with Chinese and international scientific institutions, as appropriate, to monitor the environment on the Tibetan Plateau, including glacial retreat, temperature rise, and carbon levels, in order to promote a greater understanding of the effects on permafrost, river flows, grasslands and desertification, and the monsoon cycle; (2) engage with the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Tibetan people, and nongovernmental organizations to encourage the participation of Tibetan nomads and other Tibetan stakeholders in the development and implementation of grassland management policies, in order to utilize their indigenous experience in mitigation and stewardship of the land and to assess policies on the forced resettlement of nomads; and (3) encourage a regional framework on water security, or use existing frameworks, such as the Lower Mekong Initiative, to facilitate cooperative agreements among all riparian nations that would promote transparency, sharing of information, pollution regulation, and arrangements on impounding and diversion of waters that originate on the Tibetan Plateau.