Spoiling Tibet

Gabriel Lafitte has spent years living with Tibetans, in exile and in Tibet. Based in Australia, he researches the impacts of Chinese policies on the Tibetan Plateau, and regularly trains young Tibetan professional environmentalists and advocates. Decades of immersion in Tibetan culture, and a dozen journeys around China, have given him an insider/outsider perspective on two great civilizations in conflict. He is an experienced public policy adviser with expertise in development, biodiversity and resource management policy. He has authored numerous reports, submissions and a 2006 book on the Dalai Lama's teachings Happiness in a Material World.

• A note on the geography of TibetMaps of Tibet and ChinaIntroduction1. Tibet in its own right2. Gold rush in Tibet3. Reach of the revolutionary state4. Chromite globalization5. Capitalizing on Tibet: privatizing the treasure house6. Intensive exploitationConclusionNotesFurther reading on TibetIndex

Spoiling Tibet contains a fascinating wealth of information about mining in contemporary Tibet. Bringing reflections on the relationship between landscape and enlightenment together with analyses of capital flight, primitive accumulation, and the dynamics of Chinese state capitalism in an era of globalization, the book is packed full of often counter-intuitive insights. Lafitte highlights the voices of Tibetans who are excluded from decision-making and object to environmentally destructive mining, while also arguing that to date, China has not exploited Tibetan minerals as much as commonly presumed.