The global conference of the "Third Pole Environmental Science Assessment Report" was held in the form of a combination of online and offline at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Photo by Sun Zifa, a reporter from China News Service
BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The "Scientific Assessment Report on the Environment of the Third Pole" officially released by the United Nations Environment Programme on April 28 shows that the Third Pole region has shown an overall warming and wetting trend in the past two thousand years, and this warming and humidification process has been further intensified in the past 60 years. The model estimates that the Third Pole will become further warming and wetting by the end of the 21st century, which may cause more geological disasters.
In the afternoon of Beijing time, the global press conference of the Third Pole Environmental Science Assessment Report was held in the Beijing Department of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) in the form of a combination of online and offline. The launch was hosted by UN Environment and co-hosted by UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, UNEP's International Partnership for Ecosystem Management, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and the Tibetan Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with support from the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development initiative.
The latest report pointed out that the overall warming and humidity trend in the third pole region and the intensification of the warming and humidification process have led to the rapid change of the water body of the third pole in the past 30 years, which is manifested in the overall melting of glaciers, the increase in the number of lakes, the expansion of the area, and the decrease and then increase of river runoff; the intensification of the water cycle has caused frequent geological disasters such as glacial lake collapse and ice avalanche. On the other hand, the ecosystems of the Third Pole region have generally improved since the 1980s, and biodiversity has remained good under anthropogenic conservation interventions, but it still faces many challenges, including climate change. Human activities around the third pole have a negative impact on the environment in the region, and regional economic development needs to more fully coordinate the relationship with environmental protection.
Yao Tandong, one of the main authors of the "Third Pole Environmental Science Assessment Report", an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, presented the report at the press conference. Photo by Sun Zifa, a reporter from China News Service
Yao Tandong, one of the main authors of the "Third Pole Environmental Science Assessment Report", academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and researcher of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the press conference that the assessment report showed the latest research results of the climate, water body, ecosystem and biodiversity, surface change and human impact of the Third Pole, and assessed the environmental changes that have occurred in the past two thousand years and ongoing in the Third Pole, and analyzed the comprehensive impact of different processes such as climate change, surface water bodies, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human activities on the environment of the Third Pole. The future trends and complexities of processes such as water resources, alpine ecosystems, and biodiversity in the future of the Third Pole are estimated, and the importance of multidisciplinary interdisciplinary research to cope with complex environmental changes in the Third Pole is emphasized.
Zhang Linxiu, director of the UN Environment Programme's International Ecosystem Management Partnership Program, said that the report was completed under the support of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Category A strategic pilot science and technology project "Pan-Third Pole Environmental Change and Green Silk Road Construction", and was carefully written and repeatedly revised by nearly 100 Chinese and foreign experts organized by the "Third Pole Environment" International Program for more than two years.
Xu Baiqing and Zhang Fan, researchers of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, were interviewed by the media after the press conference, and Xu Baiqing pointed out that Chinese scientists have made the main contribution to the "Third Pole Environmental Science Assessment Report", and the core results of the report can be summarized as "the environment of the third pole is warming and wet, the ecology is getting better, and the risk of disasters is increasing." Zhang Fan believes that in the context of the overall warming and wetting climate in recent decades, the glacier area and ice reserves of the third pole have decreased to varying degrees. Affected by the changing pattern of precipitation and the replenishment of glacial meltwater, most of the major rivers in the third pole have shown an increasing trend in both runoff and sediment transportation. This means that while providing more water resources for the downstream, the rivers of the third pole will accelerate the siltation of river reservoirs, which will challenge the construction and operation of water conservancy and hydropower projects.
Zhuang Xuliang, secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that under the framework of the international plan of "Third Pole Environment", through the continuous support of projects such as "Pan-Third Pole Environmental Change and Green Silk Road Construction" and the Second Comprehensive Scientific Expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, scientists of the Institute will continue to deepen cooperation with international organizations and international programs such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Educational, Educational, Cultural and Cultural Organization and the World Meteorological Organization, and continuously improve the international influence of Third Pole research for the "Belt and Road Initiative" Construction and global ecological environmental protection governance services.
It is understood that April 28 is also the launch date of the "International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development" initiative. In January 2022, the Joint Statement between the Leaders of China and the Five Central Asian Countries on the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations expressed the support of all parties for the initiative. The release of the Third Pole Environmental Science Assessment Report will also enhance the international influence of the initiative. (End)