1. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 1 Environment and Development Desk Department of Information and International Relations Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala Tenzin NORBU RIVER WATERS: PERSPECTIVE AND CHALLENGE FOR ASIA 18 -20 November, 2011 India International Center, New Delhi

2. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Courtesy: NASA/ D.Miller 2

3. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Map courtesy: T. Wangyal Shawa, 2009 3 Permafrost Cover Permafrost Cover Approximately > 1.4 Million Sq. Km on Permafrost, Remaining on Seasonally Frozen soils Approximately > 1.4 Million Sq. Km on Permafrost, Remaining on Seasonally Frozen soils

4. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET - 4 Seasonally Frozen Grounds

5. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Temperature rise in Lhasa 1980 2008 Manfred and Peng, (1988) www.msnweather.com 5 RISING TEMPERATURE RISING TEMPERATURE Lhasa  Aprox. 0.4 o C / Decade World Average (IPCC)  0.03/ Decade

6. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Permafrost/ Frozen grounds 6

7. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Permafrost Degradation Permafrost Degradation 7

8. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Permafrost degradation  change in vegetative mat  Desertification Species selection  loss of native species Impacts: 8

9. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 9 Pictures courtesy: Losang Alpine Wetlands --> Alpine grasslands / Meadows : Total SOC storage (1 meter soil) > 7400 Million tons of C

10. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Pictures courtesy: Losang 10

11. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET [‘The original sliding was caused by excavation of the slope toe in 1990 during the repairing of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway...”] 11

12. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 12

13. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 13 Permafrost Degradation Permafrost Degradation Surface Soil Temperature shift: 150 -230 days/ year

14. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Courtesy: Wu et al, 2003, Sc in China, Vol 46 No 2 The temperature of soil under asphalt pavement is much higher than that under the normal condition Natural Surface Asphalt pavement 14

15. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 15 Retrogressive Thermal Slumping Permafrost Degradation Permafrost Degradation

16. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 16 Surface degradation associated with thaw of ice-rich permafrost SLH/ QTH

17. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Source: NAN Zhuotong et al, 2005 17

18. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Threats to Infrastructure projects Positive Feedback CO 2 & CH 4 Consequences: 18

19. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Desertification Consequences: Lowering water tables 19

20. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 20 Climate Warming: Drying the head regions of Major Rivers Eastern Tibet: Head Region of the Machu (Yellow River) Consequences:

21. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET How to restore the degrading permafrost? Long term field observations & research stations Interaction between atmospheric and land surfaces Restore the ancestral pastoral nomadic culture - mobility Managed grazing of the grasslands 21

22. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 22 Pictures courtesy: Wild Yak Winter Pastures

23. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Summer Pastures 23

24. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Nomads settlement Sershul in Kham (2010) 24 Pictures courtesy: EDD/ DIIR

26. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 26

27. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Drichu/ Yangtse Machu/ Yellow Yarlung Tsangpo/ Brahmaputra Zachu/ Mekong 27

28. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET THANK YOU For more information, please visit us at: www.tibet.net edd@tibet.net 28

29. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET

30. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET "herders should not, as a result of the measures adopted under the tuimu huancao policy, be put in a situation where they have no other options than to sell their herd and resettle." Mr. Olivier De Schutter UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food 15 - 23 December 2010

31. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET [‘The QTH “opened up” the country for more concentration of people in settlements resulting in more infrastructures, fostered the construction of side roads, encouraged an explosion in sheep, goat, cattle and yak raising …..’] The impacts of the Golmud to Lhasa Oil Products Pipeline (GLOPP)

32. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Largest radiation values in China Frequent thawing and freezing states

33. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET

34. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET [‘The QTH “opened up” the country for more concentration of people in settlements resulting in more infrastructures, fostered the construction of side roads, encouraged an explosion in sheep, goat, cattle and yak raising..]

35. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET The impacts of the Golmud to Lhasa Oil Products Pipeline (GLOPP)

36. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET “Beilu He Permafrost Research Station, about midway along the QTEC, showing ventilated space between gravel fill and floor of the building” LESSON LEARNED

37. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET The impacts of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway (QTR)

38. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET 38

39. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET

40. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Largest radiation values in China Frequent thawing and freezing states

41. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET

42. EDD/ 2011/ FNVA Tibetan Plateau – Permafrost cover - TIBET Unreasonable economic activities are the main factor for causing the desertification !!!