GLOBAL warming was melting glaciers in China’s Tibetan region at a rate of 7.0 per cent yearly, triggering drought, desertification and sandstorms in other regions, state press reported today.
Data collected in four decades had shown that glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the “roof of the world”, were shrinking at an unprecedented pace, Xinhua news agency said.
“The melting glacier will ultimately trigger more droughts, expand desertification and increase sandstorms,” the report quoted Dong Guangrong, a specialist at the China Academy of Sciences, as saying.
About 47 per cent of China’s glaciers are on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in the Himalayas, where the Yangtze, Yellow, Brahmaputra, Mekong and Salween rivers all originate.
The fast rate of glacier melt has meant more water run-off from the plateau which exacerbates soil erosion and leads to desertification, it said.
Northern China, including Beijing, has suffered from 13 dust storms this year which have been attributed to desertification in China’s north-western regions, including Qinghai province.
In the worst storm on April 17, an estimated 336,000 tons of dust fell on Beijing, leaving the air quality in the capital at hazardous levels.
Rising temperatures on the plateau might also pose a threat to the world’s highest railway, which is expected to go into operation in July, according to Chinese press reports.
The landmark Tibetan railway linking Qinghai province with Tibet could be destabilised if the permafrost, or frozen ground, underneath the tracks melt, the reports said.
