The kick-off Meeting of National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) - International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) joint research project entitled “The Water Quality Dynamics and the Environmental Implications in the Koshi River Basin” was held successfully during Apr. 15-16, 2018, in Chengdu. The project leader of Chinese side is Professor Fan Zhang from Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITP, CAS), and that of ICIMOD side is Dr. Aditi Mukherji. More than 20 researchers and graduates from China, Nepal and India attended this meeting, including Professor Liding Chen from Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), CAS, Professor Shichang Kang from Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources(NIEER), CAS, Professor Genxu Wang and Professor Genwei Cheng from Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), CAS, Professor Yun Deng from Sichuan University, Professor Fan Zhang, Associate Professor Qianggong Zhang, Associate Professor Chaoliu Li, Associate Professor Xiaonan Shi, and Assistant Professor Chen Zeng from ITP, CAS, Associate Professor Wei Luo from RCEES, CAS, Dr. Aditi Mukherji and Dr. Santosh Nepal from ICIMOD etc.
First, Professor Fan Zhang gave the opening speech. Then, she introduced the background, research objectives, research contents, research plans, expected outcome, members and budget, etc. Dr. Aditi Mukherji then presented her recent research progress on spring revival protocol and discussed relevant research plan. After that, project team discussed the detailed research plans with the invited specialists. After that, the other project team members actively presented their recent advances in Koshi river basin or the Tibetan Plateau with related topics including “Distribution and risk assessment of POPs in the Himalaya region”, “Aged dissolved organic carbon exported from rivers caused by permafrost melting of the Tibetan Plateau and implications to our study”, “Melting glaciers stimulate mercury cycling in high altitudes in the Tibetan Plateau”, “Spatiotemporal variations of suspended sediment transport in the upstream and midstream of the Yarlung Tsangpo River”, “Improving sediment load estimations: The case of the Yarlung Zangbo River”, “Improving sediment load estimations: The case of the Yarlung Zangbo River”, “Climate Change impacts on water resources and related disasters in the Koshi River Basin”, “Air temperature estimation over the Tibetan Plateau using MODIS LST”, and “Water Quality & Environmental Implications in the Nepal Himalaya”. In the end, the team members discussed the detailed research plan in relevant to the above topic as well as further cooperative research work in Koshi river basin, which formed the basis of successfully implementing the NSFC - ICIMOD joint research project of “The Water Quality Dynamics and the Environmental Implications in the Koshi River Basin”.

Group photo

Project overview presented by Professor Fan Zhang

Academic report and discussion