The Third Pole
The Tibetan plateau holds more ice than anywhere outside the Arctic and Antarctica, and its glaciers feed rivers that sustain hundreds of millions of people. Tibetans cared for this land for centuries; under occupation, it is being dammed, mined and emptied of its nomads.
The Third Pole
Glaciers
Most glaciers on the plateau and the surrounding mountains are retreating. ICIMOD’s 2023 assessment found that Hindu Kush Himalayan glaciers lost mass 65 per cent faster in 2011–2020 than in the decade before, and could lose up to 80 per cent of their volume by 2100 on current emissions.
Rivers and people
ICIMOD estimates that about 240 million people live in the Hindu Kush Himalaya and some 1.65 billion more depend on its rivers downstream. Students for a Free Tibet says the Tibetan plateau supplies water to 85 per cent of Asia’s population. Decisions taken about Tibet’s rivers reach far beyond Tibet.
Permafrost
Much of the plateau rests on permanently frozen ground. The IPCC reports that mountain permafrost is warming and thawing, which harms grasslands, water supplies and infrastructure and can release stored carbon.
Wildlife
The CTA lists native species including the wild yak, Tibetan antelope (chiru), Tibetan gazelle, kiang (wild ass), argali, blue sheep and black-necked crane, and in the forested east the giant panda, red panda and golden monkey. Achik Kol (Ch. Hoh Xil), on the antelope’s migration route in Amdo, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017.
Dams
China has built and is building large dams on rivers that rise in Tibet. In July 2025 it began a project on the lower Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) expected to be the largest in the world, and in 2024 hundreds of Tibetans were detained in Derge after protesting against the Kamtok dam, which would drown villages and monasteries.
Mining
Tibet holds copper, gold and other minerals. In March 2013 a landslide at the Gyama mine near Lhasa buried 83 workers, exposing the risks of large-scale mining. Tibetan organisations condemn the extraction of Tibet’s resources for China’s benefit.
Nomads and grasslands
Free Tibet reports that China has used incentives and force to move more than two million Tibetan nomads off the land into settlements. Human Rights Watch has documented coercive relocation, and the loss of herders’ knowledge leaves the grasslands without their oldest guardians.
Rivers
- Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) (Yarlung Tsangpo)
- Senge Khabab (Indus) (Senge Khabab)
- Langchen Khabab (Sutlej) (Langchen Khabab)
- Mapcha Khabab (Karnali) (Mapcha Khabab)
- Drichu (Yangtze) (Drichu)
- Machu (Yellow River) (Machu)
- Dzachu (Mekong) (Dzachu)
- Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween) (Gyalmo Ngulchu)
- Phungchu (Arun) (Phungchu)
- Kyichu (Lhasa River) (Kyichu)
- Nyagchu (Yalong) (Nyagchu)
- Zayul Chu (Lohit) (Zayul Chu)
Natural resources
Tibet's land holds minerals, fast-falling rivers, sun, wind, grassland, forests and medicinal plants. For centuries Tibetans used them with restraint, and many mountains, lakes and springs are held sacred. Under the occupation, decisions about these resources are taken by Chinese authorities and Chinese companies, and the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetan communities say the benefits flow out of Tibet while the damage stays. This chapter describes only places where a resource has been documented. A mineral being present is not the same as a deposit that can be mined at a profit: we call figures 'reserves' only when the source does, and mark estimates as estimates.
Lithium
Lithium, used in batteries for electric vehicles, is found in Tibet both in the brine of salt lakes and in hard-rock pegmatite. Chinese and foreign demand for batteries has turned these deposits into some of the most sought-after in China.
- 1.8 million tonnes Proven reserves claimed for Zabuye salt lake (estimate) – Company figure reported by Yicai Global; the unit (lithium or lithium carbonate) is not stated clearly.
- 2.09 million tonnes Proven and probable reserves at Lakkor Tso (estimate) – Lithium carbonate equivalent, as reported by Mining Weekly from the operator.
- about 1 million tonnes Lithium resources announced in Nyagchu (Ch. Yajiang) county, 2024 (estimate) – A resource announced by Chinese authorities, not a proven reserve.
- 4.6 million tonnes Lithium reserves for all of China, 2026 (estimate) – USGS figure for the whole People's Republic of China; it is not broken down by Tibetan area.
Glaciers, lakes and fresh water
Tibet's ice, snow, lakes and wetlands are its greatest resource and Asia's too. They feed the rivers that water South, Southeast and East Asia.
- more than 45,000 Glaciers on the plateau and surrounding mountains (estimate) – CTA figure for the wider Third Pole region, covering about 105,000 square kilometres.
- about 1.3 billion People who depend directly on Tibet's rivers, according to the CTA (estimate) – ICIMOD gives about 1.65 billion people downstream of the wider Hindu Kush Himalaya.
- about 52% Share of Dzoge's original 4,600 square kilometres of surface peat turned to grassland (estimate)
Hydropower and dams
Tibet's rivers drop thousands of metres from the plateau to the plains, which Chinese authorities see as a vast source of electricity. Dams have been built on the Machu, Drichu, Nyagchu, Dzachu and Yarlung Tsangpo, and more are planned.
- 60 GW Planned capacity of the lower Yarlung Tsangpo project (estimate) – Chinese official figure as reported internationally.
- 1.2 trillion yuan Expected cost of the lower Yarlung Tsangpo project (estimate) – Chinese official figure; earlier reports gave 'more than 1 trillion yuan'.
- about 6,000 People to be relocated for the Lianghekou dam on the Nyagchu (estimate) – As reported in 2017.
- 510 MW Capacity of the Zangmu dam, the first on the Yarlung Tsangpo (2015)
Grasslands
The grasslands are the base of Tibetan nomadic life and of the wildlife of the plateau. Their turf also protects the soil and holds large amounts of carbon.
- about 450,000 km² Pastures dominated by Kobresia pygmaea (estimate) – Described by Miehe and colleagues as the world's largest pastoral alpine ecosystem.
Yartsa gunbu (caterpillar fungus)
Yartsa gunbu, 'summer grass, winter worm', is a fungus that grows from the bodies of ghost-moth caterpillars in alpine meadows. Prized in Tibetan and Chinese medicine, it has become the most valuable natural product of the plateau.
- 40% Share of rural cash income in the so-called TAR from yartsa gunbu (estimate) – Estimate by Daniel Winkler (2008).
Yaks, sheep and the nomads
Tibet's herds of yak, sheep and goats have sustained its people for millennia, providing milk, butter, meat, wool, hair for tents and dung for fuel. Nomadic herding is a resource in itself: knowledge of how to move herds across the seasons…
- 2 million Tibetans in the so-called TAR rehoused under 'Comfortable Housing', 2006-2012 – Official figures compiled by Human Rights Watch.
- 300,000 Nomadic herders relocated and settled in Qinghai since the early 2000s – Official figures compiled by Human Rights Watch (2013).
- over 930,000 Rural Tibetans relocated in the so-called TAR, 2000-2025 – Human Rights Watch analysis of official data; 709,000 of them since 2016.
Wildlife and plants of Tibet
The Tibetan Plateau is home to animals and plants found nowhere else: the chiru of the Changtang, the wild yak, the black-necked crane, the snow lotus and the caterpillar fungus. Tibetan Buddhist respect for life protected them for centuries. Under the occupation they face poaching, fenced grasslands, poisoning campaigns, dams, mines, roads and the removal of the nomads who lived alongside them. Each profile gives the species' IUCN Red List status with the year it was assessed.
- Spikenard Nardostachys jatamansi
- Alpine musk deer Moschus chrysogaster
- Saker falcon Falco cherrug
- Caterpillar fungus (yartsa gunbu) Ophiocordyceps sinensis
- Oxygymnocypris stewartii Oxygymnocypris stewartii
- Alpine toad (Scutiger boulengeri) Scutiger boulengeri
- Qinghai toad-headed agama Phrynocephalus vlangalii
- Bumblebees Bombus spp.
Wildlife of Tibet · Plants of Tibet · Natural resources of Tibet