[2008-3-7]

As research into global change holds a critical bearing on China immediate concerns and vital interests, CAS, as a national S&T taskforce, should maintain a research team to carry out long-term research into the issue so as to provide scientific grounds for the national decision-makers, says CAS Vice President DING Zhongli.

Prof. Ding made the remarks at a CAS workshop to address global change, which was held on Feb. 21 in Beijing. Co-chaired by FU Bojie, director-general of the CAS Bureau of Science and Technology for Resources and Environment, and Prof. MA Yang, director-general of the General Office for Academic Divisions of CAS, the meeting brought together more than 30 senior leaders and renowned scientists from the CAS headquarters and its research centers, including the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Institute of Theoretical Physics, and Institute of Policy and Management.

The participants made in-depth discussions on such issues as the national demands for addressing the global change, new tendencies and cutting-edge issues in the field, as well as CAS research strategy and approaches to update core competitiveness in this aspect.

In his conclusion remarks, CAS Vice President LI Jinghai reviewed consensus reached by the participants. Most scholars agreed that more efforts should be made to systematically collect and analyze data and information so as to have a systematic understanding of the global trend. Energy saving and pollution reduction, which are an inevitable tendency for the S&T development, should be the major countermeasures to maintain the sustainable development. Interdisciplinary studies are the main approach to deal with the challenge and various actions should be proposed for diplomatic, political, economic and S&T aspects.