International Cooperation

Nobel Peace Prize Goes to IPCC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 mainly for the following contributions: the IPCC has successively issued 4 appraisal reports in the past twenty years, warning the world the significance of global climate change and the major cause for the global warming is human’s activities, and proposed countermeasures and methods to prevent the climate from going warm continuously. On Dec.10, the Awarding Ceremony was inaugurated in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Qin Dahe, key member of the IPCC Delegation, member of CAS, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences of the Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute, CAS (under preparation), and former Director General of the China Meteorological Administration attended the Awarding Ceremony and accepted the Prize on behalf of the IPCC .

Genome Research on One Thousand Individuals Triggered

On Jan. 22, the International Cooperation Team composed of scientists from China, U. K. and U. S. A. simultaneously announced, but separately in Shenzhen, London and Washington that the International Program of Genome Research on One Thousand Human Individuals was officially launched. This great program will determine the Complete Genome DNA Sequence from at least one thousand human individuals selected worldwide to draw the most detailed genetic polymorphism map of the human genome with the greatest medical application value for the time being. The population to be determined in the program include the Yoruba in the Ibadan Area of Nigeria, Japanese inhabiting in Tokyo, Chinese residing in Beijing, the descendants of North and West Europe inhabitants in Utah, U. S. A., Luhya in Webuya and Maasai in Kinyawa, Kenya, Toscani in Italy, Gujarati Indians living in Houston, Chinese dwelling in Denver, Mexico descendants residing in Los Angeles and African descendants inhabiting in the Southwest of U. S. A.

The major sponsors and implementers of this international cooperation program include Sanger Institute, U. K., Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen （BGI Shenzhen）, China, as well as the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) subordinate to the National Institute of Health (NIH), U. S. A.

CAS and BP: Join Hands for Cleaner Energy

On Jan. 18, CAS and BP signed the frame protocol for preparation of the feasibility report for establishment of the clean energy commercialization center. The execution of such frame protocol symbolized that substantial progress has been made in establishing the clean energy commercialization center since the MOU that was signed by both parties on Aug. 1, 2007. Both CAS and BP convinced that the commercialization of clean energy and other conversion technologies will make great contributions to the energy safety and carbon dioxide emission reduction, and further to the realization of sustainable energy and environment development in China and the world in future as a whole.