China has launched the first international cooperative research
program on global climate change organized and led by Chinese
scientists, announced on Monday in Beijing.
The research program comes under the auspices of the
International Project Office (IPO) for the Monsoon Asia Integrated
Regional Study (MAIRS), which is based in the Institute of
Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy
of Sciences (CAS).
Professor Frits Penning de Vries, director of the MAIRS IPO,
said at the official launch ceremony that an emerging branch of
Earth system science will help with research on the causes, and
impact of regional climatic changes.
According to Professor de Vries, the heads of the four major
global change programs - the World Climate Research Program, the
International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the International Human
Dimensions Program and the International Biodiversity Research
Program - decided in 2004 to create a joint research program
targeted at the Asia Monsoon Region.
Deforestation and pollution from intensive industrial
development have modified monsoon patterns, Prof de Vries said.
The international steering committee for MAIRS is comprises more
than 20 internationaaly recognized scientists from countries
including China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Fu Congbin, a CAS academician, leads the steering committee.
Scientific and executive plans for the program are scheduled to
be published in November.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)