Environment

The rich wildlife, forests, plants, minerals and water resources in Tibet have all suffered irreplaceable degradation in the past 50 years, disturbing its fragile ecological balance.

Biodiversity

Scientists compare the Tibetan Plateau's known biodiversity to the Amazon Rainforest's. Endemic flora and fauna abound – many currently endangered – and due to variety and complexity of unique ecological niches, Tibet is still seen as a final sanctuary for some of the world's rare plants. The animal world is equally rich. There are 210 species of mammals in 29 families; endemic animals are abundant and include the snow leopard, blue sheep, Tibetan argali, takin, musk deer, Tibetan antelope, Tibetan gazelle, wild yak and the Himalayan woolly hare. Today, more than 81 animal species in Tibet are endangered due to deforestation, illegal hunting, inappropriate government policies and their implementation, and underlying China's approach to wildlife that it is an economic resource for human use and gain.

Forestry

Research indicate that by 1985 logging in Tibet reduced its forest cover by 11.63 million hectares. This is 46% of the total forest cover and netted the Chinese authorities US$ 54 billion. In Amdo province alone, nearly 50 million trees have fallen, 70% of forest cleared. It was only when the Yangtze River floods of August 1998 caused a national disaster that Beijing finally focussed the blame on deforestation around the river's fountainhead in Kham and Amdo provinces. Officially the intensive deforestation in Tibet is being reversed. In the wake of the 1998 floods government timber markets are closed and a blanket ban on logging imposed on 4.6 million hectares of forest land. However, more recent reports from Tibet in 2000 indicate that deforestation is ongoing in Kham and Amdo.

Water Resources

Tibet's high altitude, huge land mass and vast glaciers endows it with the greatest river system in the world. It is the source of all major rivers in Asia whose watershed regions extend to China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The deforestation and irresponsible dam projects have led to silting of rivers and floods in China and neighbouring countries, affecting water supply to 47% of the world's population. Tailing from large-scale mining operations are a primary source of water pollution today in Amdo. Rivers in Lhasa already report mounting pollution problems from untreated sewage, industrial waste and salts and nitrates leaked from fertilisers used in intensive farming projects designed to meet the food needs of the Central Tibet's expanding Chinese population.

China has some of the most extreme cases of water shortage in the world. And approximately 700 million people consume contaminated drinking water. The impact of water pollution on human health has been valued at US$ 3.9 billion annually.

Nuclear Threats

With the arrival in Lhasa in September 1951 of the People's Liberation Army advance party, militarisation of Tibet by Mao's China had taken its first step. Now the plateau is a frontline in Beijing's ambitions to achieve superpower primacy.

By 1971 the first known nuclear weapon was brought to Tibet and installed at Tsaidam Basin in northern Amdo. Today the defence arsenal is believed to include 17 top secret radar stations, 14 military airfields — 11 of which are now being lengthened for new long-range combat aircraft — 8 missile bases, at least 8 intercontinental ballistic missiles, plus 70 medium–range and 20 intermediate range missiles.

With China rapidly expanding and modernising its defence arsenal and contiuning its programme of nuclear stock piling, Tibet's strategic value for military deployment and proliferation can only escalate this century. Furthermore, there is evidence that nuclear and other hazardous wastes are being dumped on the plateau. China's official Xinhua News Agency admitted in 1995 that radioactive pollutants had been discharged from the Nuclear Weapon Research and Design Academy (Ninth Academy) near Siling (Ch: Xining) and shallow buried near the shore of Lake Kokonor.

Source: TIBET 2000 Environment and Development Issues, Dept. of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration Dharamsala, India
For more information visit DIIR website

Back to About Tibet