When it comes to the rise of a civilization, water is its indispensable cornerstone. It is for this reason that the four ancient kingdoms were built near the waters. Speaking of the source rivers of Chinese civilization, we have to mention the "mother rivers" in the Chinese population - the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. With the help of these two rivers, ancient people were able to use water resources to irrigate farmland and ensure food even in the era of underdeveloped science and technology.
Although the Yellow River and the Yangtze River later had a certain impact on the residents along the river due to sand accumulation and diversion and blockage, their value and role should not be negligible.
When it comes to these two "mother rivers", we have to talk about their birthplace - the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Dating back to the Early Permian hundreds of millions of years ago, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was not a plateau, but a bottomless sea. This area, known to modern people as the Tethys Sea, is the site of the discovery of fossils of marine life on the Tibetan Plateau.
However, over time, continental plates have become increasingly dynamic. Under the squeezing and collision of the Indian plate and the Asian plate, mountain ranges such as the Kunlun Mountains, the Tanggula Mountains and the Hengduan Mountains have appeared one after another. After tens of millions of years of evolution, about 15 million years ago, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau began to take shape.
The reason why the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has become the world's largest plateau and won the reputation of "roof" is that its altitude span is huge, breeding rich flora and fauna, and enriching China's ecosystem.
Not only that, due to its vast and flat landform, parts of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have gradually become important places for solar energy resources. On average, it receives about 6,000 megajoules of solar radiation per year, much higher than the 4,500 megajoules per square kilometer in the rest of China.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is not only rich in solar energy, but also rich in copper, lead and other mineral deposits. However, the most important of these is that the Tibetan Plateau is extremely rich in rare earth elements.
However, despite its importance, the Tibetan Plateau has suffered from a "disease" in recent years – global warming.
With the progress of science and technology, human lifestyles have gradually evolved from primitive to high-tech, and the emergence of high-tech products such as automobiles has made human life more convenient. However, the problem that comes with it is the growth of human greed, which has led to large-scale deforestation.
Human emissions and deforestation have upset the natural carbon balance, creating a greenhouse effect that in turn will lead to a rise in global temperatures. According to statistics from the United Nations Environment Programme, by September 2023, global temperatures have risen by an average of 15 degrees Celsius. Despite this 1Warming of 5 degrees Celsius has limited individual effects, but it is fatal in environmental terms.
These temperature rises have caused the long-term snow and ice on the Tibetan Plateau to begin to melt. According to statistics, in the past 50 years, the glacier area of the Tibetan Plateau has decreased by about 15%, and the permafrost area has decreased by about 16%. If this trend continues, the snow and ice at lower altitudes will soon melt.
However, the issue was not taken seriously at first, and some even saw it as a relief from the global shortage of freshwater resources. However, with the rapid melting of snow, the lakes on the Tibetan Plateau have expanded, with 118 new lakes added and the total area expanded by 0470,000 square kilometers.
Not only that, but the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the source of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. As the melt of ice and snow increases, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River will inevitably face the problem of inundating farmland and residential areas. Carbon dioxide produced by human activities contributes to global warming, and thawing permafrost also releases carbon dioxide. Permafrost contains a large amount of organic carbon, which is converted into carbon dioxide and released into the air after thawing, exceeding human emissions.
This vicious circle will exacerbate global warming and threaten human and natural ecosystems. Learning from the experience and experience of India and Pakistan and other countries, China should take swift action to implement a reasonable exchange of resources between man and nature, adhere to the harmonious development of man and nature, comprehensively implement low-carbon environmental protection policies, and formulate preventive measures to deal with floods and other disasters.