Experts believe climate change is a double-edged sword for the country's "water tower," the source of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers.

Retreating glaciers fail to reflect light from the sun and therefore may lead to temperature rises and trigger more evaporation, which is likely to accelerate desertification, according to Xin Yuanhong, another senior geological survey engineer in Qinghai.

Li said melting ice has also disrupted the balance of water resources in east Asian rivers, sparking safety concerns.

Monitoring results showed several major lakes in Hoh Xil, the world's third largest unpopulated area on the plateau, has been expanding since 2011, threatening the Qinghai-Tibet railway and road network.

In addition, more frequent rainstorms and blizzards have wreaked havoc on people's lives, Li said.

However, experts said a silver lining could be that increasing rainfall in the next 50 years may benefit barren highlands and farming, a local pillar industry.

In 2012, forest coverage in Sanjiangyuan rose 2.1 percent year on year, according to Li.

China established the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve in 2000, hoping to repair the fragile ecological system. Five years later, it launched a 7.5-billion-yuan (1.2-billion-U.S. dollars) ecological conservation project in the region.

2013 is the final year of the nine-year project, which involves the relocation of 50,000 people, mostly Tibetan herdsmen, as well as clean energy development and the reclamation of cropland.