During December 8-9, 2014, the 5^th Third Pole Environment (TPE) workshop was successfully held in Berlin, Germany. This workshop consisted of 7 themed sessions, including 1)Interactions between the Third Pole and the Asian monsoon, 2)Past climate and environmental changes, 3)Status of the cryosphere, 4)Status of rivers and lakes, 5)Geoecosystems and anthropogenic activities, 6)Impacts of recent climatic changes and adaptations to a changing Third Pole, and 7)Geodynamics and Geohazards. Each session invited 5-7 outstanding scientists to introduce their latest research achievements, or give an overview of the international understanding of the subject.

The workshop also invited participating scientists to summarize the latest achievement and think about major challenges confronting the Third Pole environment research in the international academic community. Possible channels for interdisciplinary research of different subject were also briefly touched upon, so as to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the TPE.

Over 70 scientists from 13 nations, including China, Germany, USA, Netherlands, Italy, U.K., Nepal, India, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Norway, Sweden and Swiss, attended the workshop.

This workshop was convened by three TPE co-Chairs, Prof. YAO Tandong, Lonnie G. Thompson and Volker Mosbrugger. It was jointly sponsored by the TPE program, the Sino-German Center and the DFG. The expected outcome from this workshop will be a peer-reviewed assessment book, summarizing current understanding of environment and geodynamics in the Third Pole region.

It was also proposed that the next workshop be held in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

For more information of the TPE workshop, including workshop agenda and some of the presentations, please visit the website at www.tpe.ac.cn .