Interested in the Third Pole Environment (TPE) program initiated by leading scientist Prof. YAO Tandong of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, UNESCO /SCOPE plans to jointly push forward the project. On February 9, UNESCO /SCOPE invited Prof. YAO Tandong to introduce the TPE on the Third Pole Environment Meeting at UNESCO headquarter in Paris.　

Prof. Yao introducing the TPE project to UNESCO staff

Prof. LV Yonglong, the Director of Bureau of International Cooperation, CAS, and also Chairman of SCOPE, Dr. HUANG Tianhua, Representative of Permanent Delegation of China to UNESCO and Prof. MA Yaoming, Vice-Director of Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS attended the meeting. The meeting has attracted a number of division directors and program secretaries in Natural Science Division Sector of UNESCO to join the communication. Among them were Dr Natarajan Ishwaran, Director of Division of Ecological & Earth Sciences and Secretary of Man & Biosphere Programme, Dr Shahbaz Khan, Chief of Water & Sustainable Development Section in Division of Water Sciences, Dr Siegfried Demuth, Chief of Hydrological Processes & Climate Section in Division of Water Sciences, Dr J. Alberto Tejada-Guibert, Director a.i. of Division of Water Sciences and Secretary of International Hydrological Programme, Dr Robert Missotten, Chief of Global Earth Observations Section and Secretary of International Geoscience Programme in the Division of Ecological & Earth Sciences. Mrs Véronique Plocq Fichelet, the Executive Director of SCOPE also attended the meeting.　 

Communication of Third Pole environment related research projects

During the meeting, Prof. YAO Tandong presented the TPE project to UNESCO staff, elaborating on such aspects as scientific questions, implementation approaches, organizations and the 1st TPE workshop in Beijing. UNESCO staff Dr Sarah Gaines,Assistant Program Specialist in Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, and Dr. Anil Mishra, Program specialist in Division of Water Sciences, also took turns to report on work UNESCO is doing on the Third Pole.　

Communication concerning the research activities carried out in the Third pole region reached such a mutual understanding, that Third pole environment study is of common interest and worldly significance, and should be preferably promoted by the UNESCO/SCOPE on the international scale, though concrete approaches and management require further discussion.