LONDON — What is China up to beyond the highest Himalayas? Reports from a variety of sources, including official Chinese Web sites, say that Beijing is embarking on a series of dams and attempts to harness the waters of the Brahmaputra River. One of these alone would be a massive 38-gigawatt project, half as big again as the Three Gorges dam.

If ever there were time for an international conference to meet and discuss the manifold implications — economic, environmental, political, geopolitical, social and even religious — of the attempts to tame the last and greatest wild rivers of the Himalayas, this would be it.

Alas, there is no global body with the moral authority to convene such a conference and China in its present prickly mood will be reluctant to listen, especially because the river has its origins on the Tibetan plateau and Beijing would be quick to see any discussions as undermining its rights to Tibet.