Tibet Facing Environmental Disasters
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Social
Climate Change Is Melting Glaciers and Tibet Population Growth Spurs Pollution
Tibet is facing adouble-whammyof disasters. China's western so-called autonomous region is getting warmer and wetter, just as rampant population growth is creating pollution problems. The combination threatens to destroy fragile ecosystems and disrupt life for billions of people across Asia, according to a new environmental assessment by Chinese and Tibetan researchers.
The assessment, released earlier this month, supplies new data about the extent of climate change effects and pollution in Tibet. Researchers found that around the 15,000-foot-high Tibetan Plateau, average temperatures have soared by 0.4 degrees Celsius (.72 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade (twice the average of the warming globe), while precipitation has risen by 12 percent since 1960.
All of this is causing a massive glacier stock. The plateau and its surrounding mountains, the highest in the world, contain the largest pile of ice outside of the Arctic and Antarctica, giving it the nickname "the Third Pole."
The plateau also feeds Asia's biggest rivers, which flow to Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia and China, meaning the extra water could affect billions of people downstream, Nature noted.
Amidst the changing climate, Tibet's population is booming. The plateau is now home to roughly 9 million people - three times the population in 1951, when the Communist Chinese took over. The urban boom is generating more human and industrial waste than the region's facilities can handle. "You see a lot of rubbish lying around the plateau, including headwater regions," Shichang said. Livestock is also twice as numerous, putting a greater strain on grasslands.
Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here
Media
Taxonomy
- Environment
- Climate Change