Initiation meeting of the program entitled "Integrated expedition to resource-scarce areas on Tibetan Plateau” was held on June 25, 2012 at ITP.Headed by Prof. ZHU Liping, this program is composed of three major research subjects, i.e., (1) investigation of basic data of catchment hydrology, (2) land cover and soil quality survey, and (3) survey of vegetation diversity and plant communities.  Mr. PENG Yiqi, Deputy Director-General of the MOST Bureau of Basic Research attended the meeting, and proposed several issues to pay attention to during the implementation, including orientation and uniqueness of the program, efficient management, and science popularization.

PI of each subject, ZHU Liping, LIU Linshan and GUO Ke, respectively, also took turns to report on their plans in carrying out the program, ranging from detailed research contents, approaches, and schedule, to expected outcomes.

Academic advisory committees headed by Prof. SUN Honglie also suggested some implementation approaches. Prof. Sun indicated the significance to combine between and among the three subjects. An east-west oriented transect was suggested, together with the application of new methods and techniques. The advisory committee also highlighted the importance of preparation, and asked the participants in this program to bear in mind basic requirements from this expedition, i.e., acquisition of valuable data in such resource-scarce area. The outcome from this expedition would at least include high-resolution mapping of soil and vegetation, and a dataset of hydrological parameters at both catchment and regional scales.

"Integrated expedition to resource-scarce areas on Tibetan Plateau" was funded by MOST as a Special Key Program of the National Basic Work for Science and Technology in May, 2012. ITP acts as the main organizer in this expedition, in cooperation with three other CAS institutes including Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Institute of Botany and Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment.