Co-organized by Beijing Climate Centre (BCC) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Co-host by Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources and Yunnan Meteorological Service, the Inaugural Session of the Third Pole Climate Forum (TPCF) and Meeting of the Third Pole RCC-Network Task Team was held on 4-6 June 2024 in Lijiang, China.

More than 70 experts from 18 countries attended the conference. More than 60 experts from China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and the World Meteorological Organization attended the conference on-site, as well as more than 10 experts from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Singapore, Canada, and China participating online.

Qingchen Chao, Director-General of the BCC, represented Zhenlin Chen, Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration, Shahzad Sultan, Leader of the TPRCC Western Node of the Pakistan Meteorological Department(PMD), represented Sahibzad Khan, Director General of the PMD, and Zhixiang Lin, Vice Mayor of Lijiang, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches on site; Ian Lisk, President of the WMO Climate Services Committee (SERCOM), Stephen Hunt, Co-Chair of the Polar and High Mountain Observations, Research and Services Panel (PHORS) of the WMO Executive Committee, Ben Churchill, Director of the Asia and Southwest Pacific Regional Office (RAP) of the WMO, and Mohapatra Mrutyunjay, Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), delivered speeches online. Jiashuang Yuan, Deputy Director-General of BCC, presided over the opening ceremony of the conference. Subsequently, the meteorological departments of China, India, and Pakistan, the WMO Secretariat, and representatives of the organizers jointly launched the Third Pole Regional Climate Center Network (TPRCC Network) into the demonstration phase.

This forum will determine the TPCF as a sustainable cooperation platform for climate information providers and users, promoting dialogue between meteorological departments and users, stakeholders, decision-makers, and traditional knowledge holders, understanding the needs of climate and cryosphere information services in the Third Pole Region, helping to comprehensively apply information products released by TPRCC, exchanging and discussing how to effectively transform scientific knowledge and the most advanced technology into operational use, and enhancing regional climate service capabilities. The forum will also exchange and discuss the climate conditions and forecast prospects in the third polar region, and ultimately reach a consensus statement.

The three-day forum provided a platform for WMO members, especially Third Pole Regional members, to learn from each other and exchange experiences in climate and cryosphere monitoring and prediction. In the future, BCC will rely on the TPCF platform to accelerate the construction of TPRCC business capabilities, adhere to the cooperation concept of "joint design, joint construction, and shared services", comprehensively enhance the supply capacity of public service products for climate and cryosphere in high-altitude areas, drive the high-quality development of climate and cryosphere business services in radiating regions, and continuously enhance the influence of TPRCC-Network.

The link of TPCF1 is as follows: 

https://community.wmo.int/en/en/activity-areas/climate/meetings/inaugural-session-third-pole-climate-forum-tpcf-1-and-meeting-third-pole-regional-climate-centre-network-tprcc-network-task-team