Event Report
• May 24 th, 2010
132 P e r r y S t r e e t, N e w Yo r k , N e w Yo r k 10014
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Happiness the Only Meaningful Measure of Development
O
ver the course of two days, Trace Foundation, through
underdeveloped western regions, including Tibetan areas in
Local Knowlegde & Sustainable Development in the
Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai, and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Himalayas, initiated a conversation on models for
Across the border in India and Nepal, remote Himalayan
economic development that preserve the environment and local
communities face many of the same challenges as those on the
cultures. On Friday and Saturday, May 14 and 15 , a mixed
Tibetan plateau. For these communities, both in the PRC and
group of academics, development professionals and members
India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bhutan the cost of bringing Tibetan
of the local community gathered for an intimate discussion on
items to market is prohibitive. “The wool of Tibetan nomads is
development models for the rural communities of the Himalayas.
more expensive [in local markets] than that of Australian herders”
On the second day, during a full-day workshop and panel
Tsering Shakya explained “and even beer in Lhasa is made with
discussion moderated by Tsering Shakya, an influential historian
barley grown in Canada rather than from the fields of The Yarlung
of modern Tibet, opinions diverged widely as panelists sought to
Valley.” With no outlet for their products, rural Tibetans struggle
define the key terms of the day’s discussion, “sustainability” and
to escape poverty.
th
th
“development.” For the latter, the panelists were able to agree that greater happiness must be the goal of development.
Today, there is near universal agreement that development is imperative and that that development must be sustainable; what is
In the past thirty years more than 400 million have been lifted
meant by the two terms, however, is frequently unclear. Across the
out of extreme poverty in the People’s Republic of China according
Himalayas governments, NGOs, and influential individuals are all
to the World Bank. From a high of nearly 60% of the population,
advocating for a wide-array of development strategies. Saturday’s
today less than 10% of the population falls below the World Bank’s
panelists represented a broad spectrum of opinions.
$1.25 a day poverty line. Of those, the vast majority live in China’s
Jigme Gyaltsen, the first speaker of the day’s event, focused
To lear n more visit us on our website at w w w.trace.org or at faceb o ok .com/TraceFoundation
“those who attempt to protect local culture
Organizing
local
nomads
and
or the environment and ignore economic
collecting initial investments from them,
development, and those who think only
the association has allowed the nomadic
of economic development. The primary
herders of Golok access to both Chinese
mission of the association we’ve created is
and international markets. Making use
to combine all three: traditional culture,
of local resources and local manufacture,
with concern for the environment, and
the nomads are given greater incentive to
economic advancement.”
ensure protection of the environment as
Trace Foundation’s Tibetan his discussion on his vision of social
Cheese Project began with
entrepreneurship as a means of eradicating
a single vision, to use local
poverty on the Tibetan Plateau. A senior
materials and traditional tech-
monk at Ragya Monastery in Golok
niques to provide a source of
Prefecture, Jigme Gyaltsen has worked as
income for the nomadic commu-
an educator for nearly twenty years. “In the
nities of Golok Prefecture and to
beginning,” he said, “I focused exclusively
ensure their long-term prospects
on education. Eventually I realized that
through high-quality education.
education alone could not achieve my goal.
Throughout much of history
Some form of economic development was
this remote corner of the Tibetan plateau remained isolated, protected by its topogra-
necessary, and it would support my effort
phy, climate, and its inhabitant’s fierce reputation. In the past few decades however, it
to improve local education.”
has faced significant changes along with the rest of China. Today, new pressures have
The drive to permanently settle the nomads has caused dramatic change in the
emerged, and the modern, globalized world sits at the doorstep of the high pastures of Qinghai Province.
lives of the Tibetan pastoralists with whom
In 1996 Trace Foundation received a grant application from an exceptional senior
Jigme Gyaltsen works. Through unique
monk named Jigme Gyaltsen. Using traditional methods, including Buddhist debate,
initiatives and vocational education, Jigme
to teach new subjects like biology and math to the young students of his free school,
Gyaltsen seeks to allow Golok’s nomads to
Jigme Gyaltsen was turning the centuries old traditions and customs of the plateau to
continue their traditional way of life while
the advantage of its people in the modern era. Trace Foundation was inspired. In 2003,
achieving much needed economic growth
in collaboration with the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity and the Veterinary
and conserving the natural environment.
Association for Collaboration with Developing Countries (AVEC-PVS), Trace sought
His first major effort towards this goal
an equally innovative solution to the free schools’ perennial shortage of funding.
was The Snowland Yak Cheese Factory,
By crafting a European-style cheese from dri milk, provided by the prefecture’s
the fruit of a long-term collaboration with
nomadic pastoralists and cooked over traditional yak dung fires, Trace Foundation
Trace Foundation. At the factory milk from
has sought to allow the nomads of Golok to engage with global markets on their own
nomadic herders is crafted into a European
terms. Sales of the cheese throughout the world not only provide a source of income
style cheese for sale across China and in
for local pastoralists, but further support the educational activities of Jigme Gyaltsen,
the US. In 2009 he organized the Tibetan
ensuring a brighter future for the community.
Nomadic Entrepreneur Association to
For centuries the high pastures of Qinghai Province have been grazed by the herds of
further his vision. “There are two major
Tibetan pastoralists. Trace Foundation seeks to ensure that these communities are able
groups of people working on these issues
to make a decision about continuing their traditional way of life out of genuine choice,
[in Tibetan areas],” Jigme Gyaltsen said,
rather than dire necessity.
May 24th, 2010
Trace Foundation | www.trace.org | page 2
it is both their home and their economic lifeline. On the other side of the Tibetan Plateau, in Ladakh, Helena NorbergHodge is promoting a different model for development. As the founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, she has worked over the last thirty years to examine the root causes of social and environmental crises. The Swedish national first visted the region in 1975. While living in the area, she was struck by what she perceived as a radical drop in the well-being and self-confidence of the Ladakhi people as they came
strict use of GDP as a measure of human
need for deeper dialogue between Tibetans
increasingly under the influence of global
development, Norberg-Hodge asserted
and the West,” she asserted. There ought to
consumer culture.
that today we need an economics that has
be “an opportunity for Tibetans to see the
an understanding of the interdependence
reality of life in the west in order to better
of all living things.
understand the limitations of western style
The sudden influx of mass-media and foreign culture came on the heels of the general opening up of Ladakh to foreign
While Jigme Gyaltsen helps Golok’s
products and trade in the 1970s. Rather
nomadic
than improving the lives of local residents
cope with the increasing
however, she argues that this process has
encroachment of the global
created homelessness, social strife, and
economy, Helena Norberg-
environmental degradation, as well as a
Hodge advocates for drastic
crippling loss of self-confidence amongst
changes in the system itself,
the local populace, both in themselves
urging
and in their culture. Arguing against the
localized
community
for
increasingly production,
especially of food, clothing and shelter.
May 24 , 2010 th
development.”
“Eventually I realized that education alone could not achieve my goal. Some form of economic development was necessary, and it would support my effort to improve local education.”
By reducing the distance
While
- Jigme Gyaltsen
Norberg-Hodge
presented
between production and consumption,
the risks inherent in the dominant,
she asserted, we can help rebuild both
western
biodiversity and the diversity of the world’s
Sangay Gya stressed the fundamental
cultures. Localization, she contends, is
role
particularly important in the areas of food
Tibetan culture.
and energy production, with decentralized
deputy director of Qinghai Snowland
renewable energy technologies being a
Great Rivers Environmental Protection
centerpiece of her vision of development in
Association, Sangay Gya asserted, “in
the region. While advocating limitations
Tibetan culture we have various ideas and
on the flow of consumables, Norberg-
methodologies with regard to the idea of
Hodge
of
sustainable development.” “Personally,”
continued flows of information. “There is a
he continued, “I find the definition of
asserted
the
importance
of
models
for
sustainable
development,
development
in
An educator and the
Trace Foundation | www.trace.org | page 3
happiness, and of sustainable development
other panelists. He asserted: “when we
tourism, microcredit, and community
within the teachings of Tsongkhapa [the
talk about happiness we have to see the
self-determination,
eminent 15th century Buddhist master
interdependent nature of the happiness of
&
and founder of the Gelukpa sect]…what Tsongkhapa
taught
is what happiness is, how you can attain it, and how you can enhance it.”
“What Tsongkhapa
taught is what happiness is, how you can attain it, and how you can enhance it.”
In his focus on happiness
as
- Sangay Gya
the
key metric of sustainable development Sangay Gya echoed the concerns of the
models
to
Knowledge
Development
in
the
ourselves and others,
Himalayas represents only the beginning
and the happiness of
of a conversation to be continued in
the present and the
our upcoming lecture series, Visions
future, the happiness
of Development.
brought
by
event, however, Jigme Gyaltsen best
the wellbeing of our
captured the panelist’s definition of
physical environment
sustainable development: “buildings may
and those who inhabit
be constructed, and factories may be
it.”
producing on a tremendous scale, but if
about
With many questions left to explore and
Sustainable
Local
consider,
including
For this weekend’s
there is no benefit for local people it cannot be considered development.”
Trace Foundation Website’s Resources Section Now Live
Trace Foundation is working to make more of our resources available to the public. In April, we
launched the new resources section of our website, containing several new tools and references for use by academics, development professionals, and interested members of the general public. First launched in 2009, the resources section of our website initially held only the Universal Tibetan Font Converter (UTFC). A web-based application, the UTFC allows users to submit electronic documents to convert between different methods of Tibetan encoding, including the new standard, Unicode. The resources section has been updated to include our Trilingual Lexicon, a Tibetan-English-Chinese word list of important terms for development practitioners and academics; the Tibetan Font Compatibility Chart, showing the compatibility of different encoding methods and fonts with different software; and our Trilingual Place Names List. The Place Names List is a trilingual list of places located in Tibetan areas of China. Sources used for the Tibetan and Chinese names include official publications as well as local scholars. The Tibetan transcriptions follow the transcription system established by the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, the same system used in all Trace Foundation publications. Currently, we have posted place names from the province to county levels. The township level names will be made available in the near future. Village level place names are currently being compiled. Maps and tools will also be made available in the three working languages of the Foundation. In the months ahead we will continue to release new tools and resources for use by the general public.
For more information on our events and resources, and to catch up on all the visit us at www.trace.org May 24th, 2010
Trace Foundation | www.trace.org | page 4