By Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha*, Global Order live – 25 October 2021
As world leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), arguably the biggest annual summit on climate change, Tibetans are once again warning the the United Nations, that there can never be a comprehensive discussion on global climate change without understanding what is happening on the Tibetan plateau and its 46000 glaciers.
Like a hat on one’s head on a sunny day, the Tibetan plateau with its massive snow cover at an average elevation of more than 4000 meters above sea level, serves as a ‘cooling roof’ for a rapidly warming world. Numerous scientific studies published in recent decades have firmly noted that the Tibetan plateau regulates both the timing and intensity of the Indian monsoon as well as the Southeast Asian monsoon. Some studies have even linked the increasing number of heatwaves across Europe in recent years to the loss of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau.
Any drastic change to its landscape due to climate change or human destruction could quickly result in serious repercussions across Asia and beyond. Some of the most populous regions in the world like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China are greatly dependent on rivers originating from the Tibetan plateau. Tibet’s rivers like the Drichu/Yangtze and the Machu/Yellow feed millions in China, the Gyalmo Ngulchu/Salween and the Zachu/Mekong feed millions in Southeast Asian countries, the Senge Tsangpo/ Indus and the Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra feed millions more in the Indian subcontinent. As per a United States policy report, 1.8 billion people in Asia are dependent on rivers originating from the melting glaciers and the thawing permafrost of the Tibetan plateau.
Unfortunately, due to the plateau’s vast surface area at an extremely high elevation and also the rampant environmental destruction in Tibet under Chinese occupation, the temperature rise on the Tibetan plateau is twice the global average. This has led to rapid glacial retreat, permafrost degradation and an unprecedented number of natural disasters in the region. Scientists have warned that if the current rate of destruction continues, then 2/3 of all glaciers on the plateau will be gone by 2050. Read More…
{Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha is the Head of the Environment & Development Desk at the Tibet Policy Institute. He is also the Deputy Director of the Tibet Policy Institute, Central Tibetan Administration.}