An article titled Reflections and future strategies for Third Pole Environment was published online recently by Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. The authors included Third Pole Environment (TPE) co-chairs, Tandong Yao, professor and member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Honorary Director, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS , Deliang Chen, professor in the Department of Earth  Sciences from the  University of Gothenburg and Lonnie Thompson,  Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Center Senior Research Scientist. The fourth author was Shilong Piao, from the Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, and professor in the Department of Ecology in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University.

TPE is a sponsored flagship program under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Scientific Committee of Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). This international program engages in the interdisciplinary study of the relationships among water, ice, air, ecology, and humankind in the Third Pole region and beyond. 

The article highlights the Asian Water Tower’s imbalance, associated ecosystem feedbacks and geohazards, and the teleconnections between the Third Pole and other regions. As a result of climate warming, substantial Earth System changes have been observed. In the future the program aims to take a more active role in adaptation efforts, making climate projections using modeling and help inform climate-related policymaking.

You can read more about this article on the website Nature Reviews Earth & Environment and download a pdf copy of the article here. 

The accomplishments and future goals of the Third Pole Environment Program in an article titled Staying on top of the roof of the world published online at EurekAlert!

A timeline of the TPE can be found here.