Tibet's complex topography and widely varying climates result in an abundance of natural resources. Its 1.2-million-square-kilometer area is crisscrossed by rivers offering enormous potential water power. Snow mountains and valleys and the North Tibet Plateau house a wide variety of minerals. The eastern and southern parts of the region are largely covered with primeval forests, home to rare animals and plants.

Plants

Tibet is like a giant plant kingdom, with more than 5,000 species of higher plants. Gyirong, Yadong and Chentang in western Tibet and Medog, Zayu and Lhoyu in southeast Tibet are like museums of rare plant life. 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 intact 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 coverage rate is 9.84 percent. Common species include Himalayan pine, alpine larch, Pinus yunnanensis, Pinus armandis, Himalayan spruce, Himalayan fir, hard-stemmed long bract 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 growing wild, 400 of which are in common use. Particularly well-known medicinal plants include Chinese caterpillar fungus, Fritillaria Thunbergii, Rhizoma Picrorhizae, rhubarb, Rhizoma Gastrodiae, pseudo-ginseng, Codonopsis Pilosula, Radix Gentiane Macrophyllae, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, glossy ganoderma, and Caulis Spatholobi. In addition, there are over 200 known species of fungi, including the famous edible fungi songrong, hedgehog hydnum, zhangzi fungus, mushrooms, black fungi, tremellas and yellow fungi and fungi with medical use such as tuckahoes, songganlan, stone-like omphalias.

Animals

There are 142 species of mammals in Tibet, 473 species of birds, 49 species of reptiles, 44 species of amphibians, 64 species of fish and more than 2,300 species of insects. Wild animals include 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.

Minerals

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.

Energy

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 glacial water resources. Approximately 70 percent of the region's surface 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 of the Doxung Zangbo, Nyang Qu, Lhasa, Niya and Parlung Zangbo rivers.

Tibet has about 56.59 million kilowatts in exploitable hydroenergy resources, 15 percent of the nation's total. Of particular importance is the Yarlung Zangbo River, with more than 47.37 million kilowatts in exploitable energy capacity. Investigations have found more than 10 sites and sections of the river suitable for the construction of hydropower stations. In area between Paidi in Mainling County and Lidong Bridge in Medog County, Nyingchi Prefecture, the river makes a U-turn dropping 2,190 meters over the course of a famous 200-kilometer gorge. A 36-kilometer channel cut through the rock would allow the river to flow directly from Paidi to Lidong Bridge where a giant 40-million-kilowatt hydropower plant could be built.

Investigations have found that Tibet leads China in geothermal 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 kilocalories per second, the equivalent in heat produced annually to about 2.4 million tons of standard coal. The Yangbajain geothermal 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.