Profs YAO Tandong, MA Yaoming and ZHANG Fan, experts of the Third Pole Environment (TPE) program, were invited to meetings jointly hosted by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and International Social Science Council (ISSC) to explore the Institutional Framework for the grand challenges in global sustainability research at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, near the end of June, 2010.

TPE experts made an oral presentation during the Visioning Open Forum on June 22, proposing TPE program, a program dedicated to scientific understandings in the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions, as a long-term effort and an essential part contributing to global sustainability research. They thereupon highlighted the important features of the institutional framework in global collaboration, which would be conducive to addressing the grand challenges in global sustainability research.

Prof. Yao was also invited by the ESSP to attend a Co-sponsorMeeting on June 23-24, an invite-only event for further discussion on the Institutional Framework, and was fed directly the results of the Visioning Open Forum, as well as web consultations.

During the visit to Paris, the TPE experts met with Prof. CHEN Deliang, the Executive Director of ICSU, introducing the TPE program and discussing possibility for future collaborations. Both parties expressed sincere willingness to cooperate in the near future to jointly promote this regional program to a higher level for global sustainability research.