For environment's sake, give Tibet back: American academic

New Delhi, March 17 : Tibet, often called the water tower of Asia, should be handed back to the Tibetan people because its environment is increasingly becoming fragile and only they can conserve it, says noted American Buddhist writer Robert Thurman.

"Tibet should be made into something like an international environmental park. Many rivers in Asia originate in the Tibetan plateau and support hundreds of millions of people downstream, but its environment is now becoming very fragile thanks to major deforestation," Thurman said in a talk titled "Why Tibet Matters" late Tuesday in the capital.

"Therefore, besides other reasons, Tibet should be handed back to its people because they will know how to conserve their land and the environment," he added. Tibet is under Chinese rule.

Thurman, who has authored, edited and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism, is the professor of Indo-Tibetan studies at Columbia university.

"There is a lot of mismanagement in Tibet - mass scale deforestation and desertification of grasslands - by China. It should be conserved and eco-tourism should be given a boost. The world will then see Tibet as the Switzerland of Asia and give a boost to the economy as well," he said.