This seminar on Himalayan Security and Environment held in Bomdila, West Kemang Arunachal Pradesh on February 18, 2005 hereby unanimously resolves:
ACKNOWLEDGING that the Himalayas provide life-sustaining water to more than one-third of world’s population who live in South and South-East Asia and also provide spiritual solace to Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Bon and other indigenous faiths;
AWARE that the Himalayan area is located chiefly in three countries of India, China and Pakistan who are nuclear states and that security tensions exist in the region;
FURTHER AWARE that Tibet played the role of buffer state between India and China for many centuries until the Chinese forcibly usurped of power in Tibet in 1959;
CONSCIOUS of threat posed to India’s security due to loss of this buffer state and also due to construction of infrastructures like railway in Tibet;
FURTHER CONSCIOUS of the concern that the over-exploitation and misuse of the rivers originating in Tibet, particularly Tsang-po (Brahmaputra) by the policies of People’s Republic of China may lead to habitat loss, desecration of holy places, extinction of many species, soil erosion, silting of rivers, pollution, flooding and unstable water flows that threaten the life and environment in the downstream regions;
ENCOURAGED by the proposal of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to make Tibet a Zone of Ahimsa, which provides a blueprint for lasting peace in the region and also His repeated statement that He is not seeking independence but genuine autonomy for Tibet;
APPEAL to the Government of People’s Republic of China to start sincere negotiation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile;
APPEAL to the Government of People’s Republic of China to stop unsustainable interventions on the rivers originating in Tibet and to safeguard environment in Tibet;
APPEAL to the Government of India to utilize even the fast track diplomacy channel to facilitate the start of a sincere dialogue between the Government of People’s Republic of China and His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile;
APPEAL to the Government of India to dialogue with the Government of People’s Republic of China over sustainable and equitable usage of transnational rivers like Brahmaputra.
