By Chris Buckley LHASA, China, June 22 (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 neighbouring 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 metres 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. But in Tibet's centre and east, climate change so far appeared to be bringing a warmer, wetter climate that was filling, rather than shrinking, lakes. "In a sense that means some localised improvement, with more water available for vegetation and people," Zhang said. "But the bigger problems are so much bigger that we can't ignore them, especially the melting glaciers." To counter these problems, and pressures from population growth, overgrazing and pollution, Tibet has drafted an "ecological security" plan that will soon be submitted to the central government and could be announced by the end of the year, Zhang said. The plan, which could initially cost 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), would involving turning grasslands into protected forests, restricting grazing and creating "green" jobs for Tibetans that ease pressure from population growth and development. "The solution to problems like global warming is out of our hands, but this document will give us a framework to work in," Zhang said. Tibet would also have to develop more hydro-electric power stations on the regions many rivers -- an option opposed by some conservationists -- to provide enough power, he said. "The other option is coal-fire power stations, and apart from carbon dioxide emissions, there's also the problem of sulphur dioxide pollution from coal," he said. Sulphur dioxide is a pollutant that causes acid rain. "In a high place like this, sulphur and acid rain could be especially damaging. We want to avoid that, so I think more hydro-power is sensible." (Editing by Valerie Lee) (chris.buckley@reuters.com@reuters.net; +86 13501014479)
Exiled Tibetans perform a street play during a demonstration against the Olympic torch relay in Lhasa, in Dharamsala June 21, 2008. The Beijing Olympic torch began passing through Tibet's capital Lhasa ...
