Palmo Tenzin

Palmo Tenzin is an Advocacy Officer and Senior Researcher for the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). She is an experienced researcher and policy officer specialising in Chinese politics and contemporary Tibet, Sino-Tibetan relations and Asia-Pacific security.

At ICT, Tenzin focuses on investigating and analyzing developments in Tibet, ranging from land management and environmental policies to religious controls, as well as education and language policies. In December 2024, she published a landmark report titled, Chinese Hydropower: Damning Tibet’s Culture, Community and Environment. This past year, Tenzin presented the report’s findings at the UN Human Rights Council, the European Parliament and World Water Week.

Before working at the ICT, Tenzin held positions in the Australian Government and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. She holds degrees in Chinese studies, Security studies and Economics from The Australian National University and the University of Oxford. Her interdisciplinary studies have allowed her to focus on a range of topics in the Tibetan region, inlcuding Sino-Indian water security issues and the rise of Tibetan social enterprises in eastern Tibet.

Click the ‘Listen’ button below to hear Dominic Bowen with Brian Eyler and Palmo unpack the wide-ranging implications of China’s construction of a mega dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, projected to be the world’s largest hydropower facility once operational. Click ‘Read’ for a more in-depth analysis of the subject, weighing China’s economic and energy ambitions against the profound impacts on Tibetan livelihoods, culture and the environment, as well as the risks to regional water security and the strategic use of water as a geopolitical instrument.