The Third Pole Science Summit (TPSS): TPE-CSTP-HKT (Third Pole Environment-China Society of Tibetan Plateau-the organizing committee of the 2017 Himalayan-Karakorum-Tibet workshop) Joint Conference was held in Kunming, China from 10 to 12 July, 2017. As the first international conference on Third Pole environment to be held in China, the summit attracts the top-level researchers on Third Pole earth system science. In total, TPSS received nearly 400 scientists from over 20 countries, including China, the United States, Sweden, Germany, Spain, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladeshi, Myanmar, Iran, Japan and France etc.

This summit consists of plenary keynote sessions, parallel sessions, poster session, TPE workshop, HKT workshop, CSTP Youth Forum and a WMO (World Meteorological Organization) side meeting on “Concept of the WMO Global High Mountain Conference, 2018”. Its parallel sessions focus on the five topics of 1) Geodynamics and Climate Change, 2)Environmental Changes on the Third Pole and Global Change, 3)Integrated Observations and Modeling of Atmospheric and Land-Surface Processes on the Third Pole, 4)Cryosphere & Hydrosphere Dynamics and Water Cycle on the Third Pole and 5)Ecosystem, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development of the Third Pole.

The international programme of Third Pole Environment (TPE) was initiated in 2009 by three world-renowned scientists, Professors Yao Tandong, member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Director of Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Lonnie G. Thompson, member of the National Academy of Sciences of US, The Ohio State University; and Volker Mosbrugger, director of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum. The three scientists were later joined by Professors Chen Deliang, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD (The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development), who together formed the TPE executive board to promote TPE programme worldwide. TPE has drawn interests from both neighboring and western countries: lots of world-class scientific achievements have been made under the TPE framework. A total of seven TPE workshops have been successfully held since 2009, which are considered as one of the flagship projects of the programme. The 7th TPE workshop on TPSS is of particular significance, as it took place at a time when TPE is expanding its mission to Pan-TPE, a key region for “the Belt and Road Initiative”.

The Summit is co-hosted by the Third Pole Environment（TPE) Program, the China Society on Tibetan Plateau (CSTP) , the Organizing Committee of the 2017 Himalayan-Karakorum-Tibet (HKT) Workshop, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS (ITPCAS), the CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences (CETES) and Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS (KIBCAS).

World-renowned geographer, CAS member, Prof. Sun Honglie at TPSS

CAS member, Prof. Yao Tandong delivering keynote speech on TPSS.
Prof. Yao is the Co-Chair of the Third Pole Environment (TPE), the Director-general of CSTP, the Director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research /CAS and the Director of CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences (CETES).

Representatives giving opening remarks at TPSS
(Left-right, up-down) Prof. Lonnie Thompson, TPE Co-chair; Prof. Ouyang Hua, Secretary-General of CSTP; Prof. David Grimes, President of WMO; and Prof. Erwin Appel from HKT, University of Tuebingen, Germany.

Keynote speakers in TPSS.
(Left-right, up-down) Prof. Chen Fahu from ITPCAS/Lanzhou University, member of CAS; Prof. Toshio Koike, Director of ICHARM (The International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management); Prof. Soroosh Sorooshian, University of California, Irvine, member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE); Prof. Chen Deliang, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Prof. Madan L. Shrestha, member of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology; Prof. Albert Galy of Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, France; Prof. Joan Cuxart, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain, co-Chair of the GEWEX Hydroclimate Panel (GHP); and Prof. Todd Ehlers of University of Tuebingen, Germany.

TPSS Poster Session

CSTP Youth Forum

Photos provided by Xian Yijie, Zhang Xiaowen and Suraj Shrestha