Global warming caused by human activities has resulted in significant changes in the climate system, including changes in the regional climate, extreme events, snow, ice, vegetation, air quality, water cycle, and responses and feedbacks among various components of the climate system. The land surface is where water, energy, and geochemical transports to and from the atmosphere occur, hydrological processes occur, and vegetation grows. Hence, the land surface is sensitive to climate change. Climate change affects the hydrological processes not only directly but also indirectly by affecting the vegetation structure and physiology. Land surface models are useful for studying climate change and its impacts on the land surface by modeling the relevant responses and feedbacks. There are three types of land surface models that simulate the mass and energy exchange between the land surface and atmosphere: the global land surface process model, global hydrological model, and global dynamic vegetation model. These three types of models focus on different specific components of the land surface. Since the 1990s, various land surface comparison projects have revealed many problems and shortcomings in land surface models and have furthered their development. However, various issues with these models still need to be addressed. For example, one major problem with the global hydrological model is that it does not incorporate dynamic vegetation growth; hence, it cannot project long-term vegetation change impacts on the hydrological processes—let alone extreme hydrological events such as flooding and drought—and cannot be useful with respect to future water resource management. Incorporating dynamic vegetation growth into hydrological models is a frontline research topic in hydrology. Moreover, many land surface models represent soil textures and heat exchanges among soil liquids, solids, and gases on the Tibetan Plateau insufficiently. This aspect requires improvement by enhancing the observations, understanding the relevant mechanisms, and realizing the mechanisms and processes in the land surface models. The Tibetan Plateau provides fresh water to the surrounding regions and forms and modulates climate and weather both regionally and globally; thus, it is dubbed the Asian Water Tower. Improving the land surface model capability of the plateau will improve the understanding of climate change and its impacts, both regionally and globally.