On the afternoon of December 30, the opening ceremony of the Gansu Office for the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) was held in the lecture hall of the Yifu Science Museum, Chengguan Campus of Lanzhou University. Shi Baizhan, director of the Science and Technology Department of Gansu Province, and deputy leader of the scientific research team for the STEP, hosted the opening ceremony. Zhang Shizhen, Yao Tandong, Chen Fahu, Jia Ning, Yan Chunhua, Zhu Liping, Ma Yaoming, Pan Baotian, and Fu Xiaofeng Li Yumin and other relevant leaders attended the opening ceremony.

At the meeting, the notification on establishing the leading team for the STEP in Gansu Province was announced, and Academician Yan Chunhua delivered a speech. Pan Baotian and Ding Lin signed the Agreement on joint training of graduate students between Lanzhou University and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhang Shizhen, Shi Baizhan, Yao Tandong, and Yan Chunhua unveiled the Gansu Office of the STEP.

The establishment of the Gansu Office of the STEP marked that the research work on the STEP has become an important task in Gansu Province, which will promote scientific research results to be transformed into social productivity. The office will better serve the national “Belt and Road” strategy, and vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization and green sustainable development.

After the opening ceremony, the lectures of the "Tri-polar Science Forum of Lanzhou University" were respectively delivered. Academician Yao Tandong made an academic report entitled "Environmental Changes in Tibetan Plateau Scientific Research". Academician Chen Fahu made a report entitled "New Progress in the Study of Human Exploration and Adaptation to the Tibetan Plateau Environments". Academician Ding Lin gave an academic report entitled "The Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and Its Environmental Effects".

Background:

Since the opening of the STEP, Gansu Province has conscientiously implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's spirits in the congratulations on the STEP and has achieved good initial results. To better complete the task in Gansu Province and provide a guarantee for the STEP, the relevant leading team in Gansu Province was established with the consent of the provincial government, meanwhile, the Gansu office of the STEP was set up. Its main responsibility is to take charge of the daily work including the organization of the leadership group meeting, document management, and staff adjustment suggestions, urging the implementation of the matters agreed by the leadership group and various tasks for scientific research.