Tibet prepares plan to fight environmental hazards

By Chris Buckley

LHASA, China (Reuters) - Tibet is planning an "ecological security" plan to counter threats from global warming and rapid development to glaciers and grasslands on the roof of the world, its top environmental official said.

Tibet, which made headlines for recent unrest over Chinese control, is faced with environmental strains on the vast highlands that span the region and much of neighboring Qinghai province.

The most immediate sign of global warming's impact is fast-shrinking glaciers. Ones around Mount Everest, which spans Tibet and Nepal, have shrunk 170 meters in the past decade.

Zhang Yongze, director general of the region's environmental protection bureau, said the scale of environmental problems facing Tibet called for a concerted response, and he singled out climate changed as a key worry.

"In recent years the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has felt the effects of global warming and our environment has certainly experienced changes," Zhang told a small group of reporters late on Saturday night. "Our Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is actually the most direct victim of global warming."

Chinese scientists concluded last year that Tibet is warming up faster than anywhere else in the world. The average annual temperature in Tibet was rising at a speed of 0.3 degrees Celsius every 10 years, Xinhua reported.

Zhang said the effects of global warming on the varied and complex mountain landscape appeared to be mixed.

In Tibet's west, there was a clear trend to a hotter and drier climate, turning grasslands into desert.