The Kharola glacier is seen through Tibetan praying flags from a near by hill some 200km (125 miles) west to Lhasa Tibet Autonomous Region November 25, 2009. Nearly 2 billion people in Asia, from coastal city dwellers to yak-herding nomads, will begin suffering water shortages in coming decades as global warming shrinks glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, experts said. REUTERS/Nir Elias (CHINA RELIGION ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY)