The Tibetan Plateau is a vast elevated plateau at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia, spanning approximately 2,500 kilometres east to west and 1,000 kilometres north to south.
With an average elevation exceeding 4,500 metres and covering 2,500,000 square kilometres, it is the world’s highest and largest plateau above sea level — often called the Roof of the World. Geopolitically, it spreads across most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, western Sichuan, southern Gansu and parts of Xinjiang in China, as well as Bhutan, Indian Ladakh, northwestern Nepal, and portions of Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Surrounded by mountain ranges that include Mount Everest and K2, the plateau contains the headwaters of Asia’s three longest rivers: the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong. Its tens of thousands of glaciers function as a natural water tower, holding the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions — earning it the name the Third Pole. The impact of climate change on this system remains a focus of ongoing scientific research.
