[vc_row][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1517550780525{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;background-color: #525252 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”PROGRAMMES” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_empty_space][vc_wp_custommenu nav_menu=”43″ el_class=”megamenu_style”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”First Meeting of International Thematic Group on ‘Climate Change and Environmental Protection’, Beijing, China” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left|color:%23000000″ google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]The Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) and the International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences (ICCES), Beijing, China, jointly held the Foundation Meeting of COMSATS’ Thematic Group on ‘Climate Change and Environmental Protection’, on November 20, 2010, in Beijing, China. This meeting was held in conjunction with CTWF 2010–International Workshop on ‘Climate and Environmental Change: Challenges for Developing Countries’, held on 17-19 November, 2010, in Beijing, China. Representatives from 13 scientific institutions from 9 developing countries attended the meeting. Pakistan was represented by Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT). Besides others, Prof. Jiang Zhu, Deputy Director Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), China; and Mr. Syed Ali Tallae, Counsellor Technical Affairs of Embassy of Pakistan in China, attended the opening ceremony of the meeting.

The meeting resulted in the identification of common areas of research of the participating institutions, and the selection of a joint research project titled: ‘Multi-scale Climate Variations and its relation with Atmospheric Circulations’. The collaborating partners of the joint research project from amongst the participating institutions were identified and broad outlines of the joint research project was defined. The participating institutions agreed to share the available laboratory resources within the group and to provide necessary training to the researchers in order to meet the needs of project. CIIT Abbottabad offered to host the second meeting of COMSATS’ Thematic Group on ‘Climate Change and Environmental Protection’, tentatively scheduled for July 2011.

The establishment and functioning of the thematic group on ‘Climate Change and Environmental Protection’ is reflective of COMSATS’ commitment to address one of the most alarming issues hampering the socio-economic progress of the world. It is hoped that the joint project developed as a result of this meeting would help harness the potential of the participating countries to mitigate the widespread implications of the global climatic change.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]