Primeval forests grow in every corner of Tibet. The forest zone of eastern Tibet joins the forests of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in a single expanse, forming the major timber producing region of Tibet, while to the south, over 90 percent of the area of Zayul, Miling and Metok Counties is covered with forest. Tibet is the third biggest forest zone in China with her great reserve of timber, and provides ample resources for the development of the country as a whole.

       As one might expect, the forests are alive with various wild animals such as tigers, leopards, bears, gorillas, wild yaks, wild asses, apes, lynxes, antelopes, foxes, wolves, deer, musk deer, etc., while the vast stretches of prairie and rich pastureland support yaks and sheep as well as goats. "zo", donkeys, horses and cattle. Wild animals provide Tibet with a rich source of precious medicinal materials such as musk, pilose antlers, gall-bladders of bears, etc., whereas the pasturelands supply wool, yak hair, and raw hides in great quantities in the primeval forests has not yet been fully investigated and classified, but, medicinal herbs such as Chinese caterpillar fungus, fritillary bulb, Chinese angelica, rhizome of chuanxiong, Rheum officinale, Vladirimia souliei, Chinese ephidra, and Mentha haplocalyx, etc., have been gathered and used for a long time.

      The narrow valleys of southern Tibet and the river basins of the Yangtze, Zachu and Gyamo Ngulchu rivers are the major agricultural areas of Tibet. Crops include barley, wheat, beans, maize, potatoes, and rapeseed, and in Metok and Zayul, rice and peanuts are grown too. Cash crops such as tea, tobacco, walnuts and chili are grown in many regions, while apples, peaches, oranges, bananas, pears and water melons which were introduced during the last twenty years have shown increasing yields every year. Over forty species of vegetables are grown in Lhasa, Chamdo, Lhoka and Shigatse, and many of the government headquarters and industrial enterprises are partly self-sufficient in vegetables.

      According to initial investigation and exploration by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tibetan departments concerned with geology, Tibet is extremely rich in ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, and non-metal deposits. What is potentially the largest copper mine in Asia lies hidden under the Tibetan plateau. Tibet also has other mines producing, manganese, chromium, zinc, copper, antimony, mercury, coal, oil-shale, arsenic, vitriol, alkali, borax, mica, mirabilite, sulphur, rock crystal, graphite, azurite, barite, magnetite and talcum.

        Tibet is also famous for its hydroelectric potential. The plateau's swarming mountain ranges and the steepness of its geographical features cause rivers to drop sharply; for example, the overall drop of the Tsangpo River is more than 5,000 maters. Moreover, the countless mountains and lakes scattered over the plateau mean that Tibet's hydroelectric potential is one-fifth that of the whole nation.

       Tibet is gifted by Nature with geothermal heat, too. The geothermal power station at Yangpachen has already reached the stage of using steam on a small scale to produce electricity. Hot springs scattered all over the plateau are another natural resource of Tibet; Ngari alone has a belt of forty-five. They provide a natural hot water supply as well as having curative properties, and can also be used for irrigation purposes.