The Third Pole: How climate change is affecting the Tibetan Plateau

The region that encompasses the Hindu Kush Himalayas mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau is widely known as the Third Pole because its ice fields contain the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions. This region is the source of the 10 major river systems that provide irrigation, power and drinking water to over 1.9 billion people in Asia – over 24% of the world’s population.

Dr Martin Mills, the Director of Scottish Centre for Himalaya Research, Scotland, recently said, “The Global Climate Warming is causing a catastrophic collapse of the Third Pole Cryosphere. The general temperature of the Tibetan Plateau has seen a consistent movement towards a warmer and wetter climate and a reduction in the number of very cold winter days since the 1980s. There is clear evidence that temperatures across the Third Pole region are increasing at a rate two to four times the global average, a process that has been underway for more than half a century.” Asia is the centre for some of the most serious problems and also solutions for climate change, and this panel discussion will explain why.