From August 1 to 2, the International Workshop on Cryospheric Change and Sustainable Development was held in Lanzhou. The theme of this international workshop “Cryopsheric Change and Sustainable Development” is to improve our understanding of changes in all components of the cryosphere and their interdependence and causes. 

The CAS Member QIN Dahe, YAO Tandong, ZHANG Renhe, together with their 200 co-workers and scholars from China, USA, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Nepal, Brazil, Mongolia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, attended the workshop and some of them gave speeches. The workshop is hosted by the Prof. KANG Shichang, the director of the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences of NIEER. 

The workshop has four topics, including “Cryospheric processes and dynamics”, “Attribution and impacts of cryospheric changes”, “Mitigation and adaptive countermeasures on cryospheric changes” and Cryosphere services and their function for sustainable development”. 

The workshop focused on our current capabilities to model and assess these changes, mitigation and adaptability strategies in a rapidly changing cryosphere, eco-social sustainability, and the role of the cryosphere in the earth’s future. 

It is known that the cryosphere is the part of the Earthe system consisting of all snow, ice and frozen ground, both on and beneath the surface of the Earth, and the oceans. As an integral part of the climate system, the cryosphere responds the quickest to, and is the most representative of, global climate change. It also impacts both bio and anthropogenic systems on different spatial and temporal scales.