Plateau glaciers shrink 15 percent in 30 years

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the major source of the country's largest rivers, has seen its glaciers shrink rapidly over the past 30 years, a research institute revealed Wednesday. According to the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, glaciers on the plateau and surrounding areas have shrunk by 15 percent from 53,000 to 45,000 square km over the past three decades.