Megoe Tso: The Damming of Tibet's Sacred Lake

By: 
Tibet Justice Center
Date: 
Friday, April 1, 2005

This report by the Tibet Justice Center reviews the Chinese government’s plans to build a dam on eastern Tibet’s most sacred lake, Megoe Tso. In addition to being [spiritually] precious to the local population, Megoe Tso is also an important site for ecologists, geologists and plant and animal conservationists. It is the largest lake in the "mountains of southwest China," a region identified by Conservation International as one of world’s biodiversity "hotspots" – the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plants and animals on Earth.

Unfortunately, experts who are examining the environmental damage that may be caused by the dam [to be built at Megoe Tso] do not have the impact data necessary to make an in depth assessment of the environmental consequences of the project ... Regrettably, neither the government nor Huaneng company have done the kind of rigorous environmental assessments that are required by law and that could be used to draw real scientific conclusions ... A detailed environmental impact assessment is critical for the government to make an informed decision about the project.

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