Tibet's complex topography and widely varying climates re-
sult in an abundance of natural resources, its 1.2-million-square-
kilometer area is crisscrossed by rivers offering enormous poten-
tial water power, Snow mountains and valleys and the North Tibet
Plateau house a wide variety of minerals. The eastern and south-
ern parts of the region are largely covered with primeval forests.
home to rare animals and plants.
Tibet is like a giant plant kingdom, with more than 5.000 spe-
cies of higher plants. Gyirong. Yadong and Chentang in western
Tibet and Medog, Zayu and Lhoyu in southeast Tibet are like
museums of rare plantlife. Even in northern Tibet with its extreme
natural conditions, there exist more than 100 kinds of plants.
Tibet is also one of China's largest forest areas, preserving in-
tact primeval forests. Almost all the principal plant species from
the tropical to the frigid zones of the northern hemisphere are found
here. Forestry reserves exceed 2.08 billion cubic meters. The cov-
erage rate is 9.84 percent. Common species include Himalayan
pine, alpine larch, Pinus yunnanensis, Pinus armandis, Himalayan
spruce, Himalayan fir, hard-stemmed longbract fir. hemlock,
Monterey Larix potaniniis. Tibetan larch, Tibetan cypress and
Chinese juniper. Spruce, fir and hemlock are distributed most
widely, accounting for 48 percent of Tibet's forests by area and 61
percent by stock. They are found mainly in the humid subalpine
zones of the Himalayas, Nyainqentanglha and Hengduan ranges.
There are about 926,000 hectares of pine forest in Tibet. Two
species, the Tibetan longleaf pine and Tibetan lacebark pine, are
included in the State listing of protected tree species. There are
more than 1.000 kinds of plants used for medicine ~owing wild,
400 of which are in common use. Particularly well-known me-
dicinal plants include Chinese caterpillar fungus, Fritillaria
Thunbergii, Rhizoma Picrorhizae. rhubarb. Rhizoma Gastrodiae.
pseudo-ginseng, Codonopsis Pilosula. Radix Gentiane
Macrophyllae, Radix SaMae Miltiorrhizae. glossy ganoderma, and
Caulis Spatholobi. In addition, there are over 200 known species
of fungi, including the famous edible fungi songrong, hedgehog
hvdnum, zhangzi fungus, mushrooms, black fungi, tremellas and
,yellow, fungi and fungi with medical use such as tuckahoes.
,songganlan, stone-like omphalias.
There are 142 species of mammals in Tibet. 473 species of
birds. 49 species of reptile,,,. 44 species of amphibians. 64 species
of fish and more than 2.300 species of insects. Wild animals in-
clude Cercopi-thecus. Assamese macaque, rhesus monkey.
muntjak, head-haired deer, wild cattle, red-spotted antelopes.
leopards, clouded leopards, black bears, wild cats. weasels, little
pandas, red deer. river deer, white-lipped deer, wild yaks. Tibetan
antelopes, wild donkeys, argalis, Mongolian gazelles, foxes.
wolves, lynxes, brown bears, jackals, blue sheep, and snow
leopards. The Tibetan antelope, wild yak, wild donkey and argali
are all rare species particular to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and are
under State protection. The white-lipped deer, found only in China.
is of particular rarity. The black-necked crane and the Tibetan
pheasant are under the State first-class protection.
linerals
There are more than 90 known mineral types in Tibet. Total
reserves of 26 of these have been verified, with that of 11 ranking
among the top five in China by province. The region's 2.500 square
kilometers of chromite deposits, concentrated along the Lake
Banggong Co to the Nujiang River rift zone in northern Tibet and
along the Yarlung Zangbo River rift zone. are the most in China.
The Norbusa Chromite Mine in Shannan Prefecture has become a
chromite production base. Tibet's prospective lithium deposits are
among the most in the world and the region serves as China's
lithium production base. Prospective copper and gypsum reserves
rank second in China. boron, magnesite, barite and arsenic third,
mica and peat fourth, and kaolin fifth. Other significant mineral
deposits include salt, natural soda. mirabilite. sulphur. phosphorus.
potassium, diatomaceous earth, iceland spar. corundum, rock quartz
and agate.
Tibet is weak in energy resources such as coal, oil and natural
gas but rich in hydro, geothermal, solar and wind energy. Tibet
produces approximately 200 million kilowatts of natural
hydroenergy annually, about 30 percent of the nation's total. It
has 354.8 billion cubic meters in surface water resources. 13.5
percent of the nation's total, and 330 billion cubic meters in gla-
cial water resources. Approximately 70 percent of the region's sur-
face waters is found in the hydroenergy capacity in the southeast.
The main stream of the Yarlung Zangbo River has a natural
hydroenergy capacity of 80 million kilowatts, which rises to 90
million kilowatts with the inclusion of its five tributaries the
Doxung Zangbo, Nyang Qu, Lhasa. Niya and Parlung Zangbo
rivers.
Tibet has about 50.59 million kilowatts ill exploitable
hydroenergy resources. 15 percent of the nation's total. Of par-
ticular importance is the Yarlung Zangbo River, with more than
47.37 million kilowatts in exploitable energy capacity, hwestiga-
tions have found more than 10 sites and sections of the river suit-
able for the construction of hydropower stations. In area between
Paidi in Mainling Count~ and Lidong Bridge ill Medog County.
Nyingchi Prefecture. the river makes a U-turn dropping 2. 190
meters ever the course of a famous 200-kilometer oor,,e A 36-
kilometer channel cut through the rock would allow the river to
flow directly from Paidi to Lidong Bridge where a giant 4O mil-
lion-kilowatt hydropower plant could be built.
Investigations have found that Tibet leads China in geother
mal energy. More than 600 geothermal sites have been located in
the Nujiang-Jinshajiang-Lancangjiang tectonic zone. the Yarlung
Zangbo rift zone and the Nagqu-Nyemo rift zone. including hot
springs, boiling springs, geysers, hot flow rivers and exothermic
ground surfaces, with an estimated heat discharge of 550,000 kilo-
calories per second, the equivalent in heat produced annually to
about 2.4'
2.4 million tons of standard coal. The Yangbajain ,goeother-
mal field in Damxung County, Lhasa. is currently China's largest
high-temperature steam geothermal field, and, moreover, one of
the largest geothermal fields in operation in the world today.