China warns rapid climate change may be warming Tibet but extreme weather and disasters to follow
- Government researchers find warmer and wetter weather have expanded lakes and rivers and improved the habitats of gazelles, antelopes and donkeys
- But the number of disasters – including mudslides, avalanches and the breaking up of glaciers – has increased over the past four decades
The region, which covers much of China’s remote northwest and includes the Himalayas, has been identified as one of the country’s “ecological security barriers” and is a vital “water tower” regulating flows to eastern, central and southern Asia.
“But in fact, a high price will be paid for this ‘beauty’, with significant warming and humidification exacerbating the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events,” the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in a summary of the expedition’s findings published on Tuesday.
Melting glaciers threaten China’s plan to build megadam in Tibet
Over the long term, warmer temperatures are likely to further destabilise weather patterns and water flows and encourage encroachment by invasive lowland species, putting native animals under stress.
Temperatures in the region have risen 0.35 degrees Celsius (0.6 degrees Fahrenheit) a decade since 1960, twice the global average. Annual rainfall has increased 7.9mm (0.31 inch) per decade since 1960, reaching 539.6mm a year over the 2016-20 period, 12.7 per cent higher than the 1961-1990 average.
The changes have led to a 20 per cent increase in the size of some plateau lakes, and parts of the Gobi Desert had started to retreat, the report said. The number of disasters – including mudslides, avalanches and the breaking up of glaciers – has increased over the past four decades.
It is also yet to be seen whether the region “remains within the optimal temperature range for vegetation growth”, and the balance of water resources is also under threat as a result of rapid glacier retreat and permafrost melt.
