The Tibetan Plateau spans more than one million square miles at the center of Eurasia with an average elevation of over 12,000 feet - by far the most extensive high-altitude region on Earth. Resulting from the collision of continental plates more than 50 million years ago, the Tibetan Plateau continues to play a major role in determining the climate that we experience today. More recently, the Tibetan Plateau has seen more significant warming than surrounding regions due to its higher altitude. As such, Tibetan communities are at the forefront of experiencing the impacts of climate change and their knowledge of such changes may contribute to better understanding the effects of a changing climate on this most significant region.
This round table brought together social science researchers working with Tibetan pastoralist communities on the Tibetan Plateau and climate scientists who have worked in the Himalayas and Asia to discuss how interdisciplinary approaches might enrich understandings of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau and contribute to our knowledge of global climate change.
Speakers:
Emily Yeh is a professor in the Geography Department at the University of Colorado Boulder and currently president-elect of the American Association of Geographers.
Huatse Gyal is an environmental anthropologist at the University of Michigan.
Kelly Hopping is an assistant professor in Human-Environment Systems at Boise State University.
Hung Nguyen is a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Boniface Fosu is a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Brendan Buckley holds the position of Lamont Research Professor, and has been a long-time member of the Tree Ring Lab at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (LDEO).
Eveline Washul is Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and Adjunct Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.
