First let me say that I am honored to be asked for advice and suggestions as foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I have just returned from the field work in the Andes of Peru so I am sorry to be late in responding to your request earlier. Let me begin by saying that I have been working now in China since 1984, first with the Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology out of Lanzhou and more recently with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research in Beijing. I think the Chinese Academy of Sciences should be commended on the recognition of the importance of science and scientist to the future well being and development of Chinese society. Your investments in both institutions and infrastructures have truly been impressive.
As we move into the 21st century this becomes even more important and is indeed a requirement for future development. I believe for all countries that only through education and research can we build the capacity for our collective future. I believe the challenges of the future as we face ever increasing environmental changes placed on our local, regional, national and international global support system now for 7 billion people and by 2050 9 billion people. We need to appreciate that we all share a common humanity. I have had the opportunity to travel and work in many countries and learn from many people and cultures. We have worked together under the best of conditions and under the worst, most extreme conditions. In this lies my abiding belief in the goodness and greatness of the human spirit. We live in a world where people live separate lives, in separate cultures, and with different belief systems, but we are bound together in a common humanity. We are truly a global community and the problems of one are the problems of all! Education is an essential key to raising the standards of living and hopes of humanity.
In this era of increasing international uncertainty we must all make an increased effort to get to know the citizens of our world community. This is the best way to build understanding, trust and a sense of community. This is absolutely a requirement for combating what will in my opinion be our greatest challenge ever faced by humanity and that is dealing with mitigation, adaption and suffering brought about by climate change. Having spent a lifetime studying glaciers and climate history stored in these archives, I have been more and more concerned about the reality of climate change yet the inability of nations to make any real progress on this growing problem. There is a growing recognition of the issues and the impacts on the Third Pole Environment. I have been very pleased to have had the opportunity of continuing our long collaboration in China with Prof. Yao Tandong, and Volker Mosbrugger of Germany on helping organize and launch a program to develop the scientific knowledge, cultivate scientific talents, develop new technology and make suggestions on adaptation strategies for sustainable development of the Third Pole region confronting global environmental changes. Some of the goals center around improving our understanding of the Third Pole environmental systems, improving our ability to forecast future conditions and directions, creation of an infrastructure for data capture storage and retrieval, to develop institutional structure that facilitates cooperation amongst researchers and to get this information to decision-makers. While this is a challenge for bringing 10 countries that share this region together ultimately this is what will need to do if we are to do a much larger scale if we are to confront our global environmental changes and will never work unless we can all work hand in hand on these challenges.
Ultimately, we can only achieve the goals through high quality, peer reviewed science. I am a firm believer in a competitive review process both in the way we decide what programs to fund and in the establishment of the “gold standard for science” which is peer reviewed published research. It is incredibility important that we ensure that the review process is conducted with well established and informed scientist on the various disciplines to be reviewed. Resources must go to support our best scientist and institutions as must be done in open system so all can understand the basis on which decisions are made. Only in this way can we build the science based platforms that we will need for dealing with the challenges of the 21st century.
Having said our world is changing faster than at anytime in our history and it's difficult to know what the future holds. A few of my favorite quotes will serve to make the point. In 1943, in the US Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM stated “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers” and more recently in 1981 Bill Gates stated “640 k (memory) ought to be enough for anybody”. In closing, let me say that I think Robert H. Goddard, the father of modern rocket propulsion and for whom the Goddard Space Flight Center is named, was right on target when he said: “It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow”. I think we are very fortunate to live in a magnificent world but we are all going to need to find a way to work together to protect for both our own and our children's future.
Just a few thoughts before I head back out on travel. Thank you for the opportunity to express them.
Best wishes,
Lonnie
