Tibet is to accelerate development of hydropower resources in a bid to reduce emission of carbon dioxide, said Zhang Yongze, head of Tibet Environmental Protection Bureau.

Tibet is affluent in hydropower resources with a theoretic potentiality of waterpower resources of more than 2 billion kilowatt, ranking top in China. The exploitable capacity is 1.4 billion kilowatt and only 600,000 kilowatt has by far been developed.

Tibet is now in dire need of hydropower resources development to cope with deficiency of electric power, said Zhang Yongze.

According to plan, the installed capacity of hydropower in Tibet is expected to reach 1.2 million in 2010, so as to basically meet the need of Tibetans.

Zhang said China has committed itself to protect the environment in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in recent years. With more than 10 billion yuan, the country has taken projects of returning farmland to forests and restoring grazing areas to grasslands, to better protect the fragile ecological environment of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.