LHASA - The impact of global warming is affecting the ecological environment of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, accelerating glacial shrinkage, reducing snow and increasing land desertification, officials said.

"Global climate change has made Tibet's environment much more fragile than before," Hao Peng, vice-chairman of the Tibet autonomous regional government, told China Daily on Tuesday.

"Economic and social development is out of the question for Tibet if we do not have a pleasant ecological environment."