The devastating floods along the Nepal-Tibet border have highlighted both the climate crisis on the Tibetan Plateau and the lack of independent information about the impacts on Tibetan side. 

Join us for a roundtable over Tibetan lunch with visiting Tibetan scholar Dr Tenzin Desal, to explore how China’s environmental and development policies are affecting Tibet’s fragile ecosystem and the millions of people across Asia who depend on the rivers that originate there. 

Dr Desal will also discuss the recently introduced Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, one of the most significant policy developments affecting Tibetans in recent years. The law gives legal backing to decades of assimilationist policies in Tibet, with serious implications for Tibetan language, culture and identity. 

This is a timely opportunity for Amnesty activists and staff, scholars, civil society and sector partners to learn more about the human rights situation in Tibet from a Tibetan scholar at a time of increasing Chinese government’s propaganda and censorship. 

 
Friday 18/09/2026 
12.30pm to 2 pm 

Workshop Room, The Commons 
55 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD 

A Tibetan lunch, including momos, will be served. 
RSVP is essential as space is limited. Please let us know of any dietary requirements when you RSVP. 
 
Speaker Bio: 

Dr TenzinDesal is a Senior Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute, the think tank of Tibetan Government-in-Exile (formally known as Central Tibetan Administration) in Dharamsala, India. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Mysore. His research focuses on development in Tibet and China’s ethnic policy, with broader interests in ethnic relations, cartography, and Tibetan history. His writings examine China’s policies in Tibet, religious freedom, ethnic unity, infrastructure development, and the environmental and geopolitical implications of these policies.