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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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PA R T FI V E : T H E L E G AC I E S O F I PY 20 07–20 0 8 A N D FU T U R E O F P O L A R R E S E A R C H<br />

5.3 Engaging Asian Nations in IPY:<br />

Asian Forum for <strong>Polar</strong> Sciences (AFoPS)<br />

Coordinating Editors:<br />

John Calder and Igor Krupnik<br />

Contributing authors:<br />

Jinping Zhao (for China), Alvarinho J. Luis (for India), Natsuo Sato, Hajime Ito, Masaki<br />

Kanao, Hiroshi Kanda, Takeshi Naganuma, Tetsuo Ohata, Kentaro Watanabe, Takashi<br />

Yamanouchi (for Japan), Dongmin Jin (for Korea), Azizan Abu Samah, Nasaruddin<br />

Abdul Rahman and Wong Chiew Yen (for Malaysia)<br />

Reviewer:<br />

Ian Allison<br />

One of the principal aims of IPY <strong>2007–2008</strong><br />

was to engage worldwide resources to<br />

create a pulse of activities focused on<br />

the polar regions. The IPY early planning<br />

document (Rapley et al., 2004) was completed during<br />

2004 by a group of experts drawn from all regions<br />

of the world, including Asia, 1 and it underscored<br />

the importance of including in IPY “nations not<br />

traditionally involved in polar research.” Recognizing<br />

the importance of international cooperation, aiming to<br />

serve the common interests between Asian countries<br />

in polar sciences, and anticipating the coming IPY, the<br />

Asian Forum for <strong>Polar</strong> Sciences (AFoPS) was established<br />

in September 2004. Its main declared objectives were<br />

to provide a foundation for cooperative research<br />

activities, to present Asian achievements to the<br />

international polar communities and to encourage<br />

Asian countries’ involvement in polar research.<br />

Participation of the Asian nations in international<br />

polar programs goes back to the early 1900s (for<br />

Japan) and to IPY-2, in which China, India, Indonesia,<br />

Japan, the Philippines, Syria and Turkey took part<br />

(Chapter 1.1, Box 3). 2 Fifteen Asian nations—Burma,<br />

Ceylon, Republic of China (Taipei), India, Indonesia,<br />

Iran, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaya, Mongolia,<br />

Philippines, Thailand, and both the Republic of<br />

Vietnam (South Vietnam) and Democratic Republic of<br />

Vietnam (North Vietnam) participated in IGY 1957–1958<br />

(Chapter 1.1, Box 4), though, primarily via conducting<br />

geophysical and meteorological observations on their<br />

national territories. Japan maintained active research<br />

program in Antarctica since 1957 and was one of the<br />

12 original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959.<br />

Four other Asian nations joined the Antarctic Treaty<br />

as Consultative Parties – China (PRC, in 1983), India<br />

(1983), Republic of Korea (1986), Democratic People’s<br />

Republic of Korea (North Korea, 1987); and Turkey is<br />

the Acceding State (since 1996). China, India, Japan,<br />

Republic of Korea and Malaysia are also Full Members<br />

of SCAR and Pakistan is its Associate Member.<br />

The role of the Asian nations in polar research<br />

has increased dramatically over the past decades,<br />

due to their economic, political and scientific power.<br />

Among 63 nations with scientists involved in IPY 2007–<br />

2008, 14 countries (China, India, Indonesia, Israel,<br />

Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia,<br />

Philippines, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Uzbekistan<br />

and Vietnam) are within the Asian region. Five of<br />

them—China, India, Japan, Malaysia and Republic of<br />

Korea—established their national IPY committees<br />

and set national IPY programs (Appendix 7). This<br />

chapter reviews the contribution by those five nations<br />

to the IPY <strong>2007–2008</strong> activities and to international<br />

collaboration in polar research.<br />

Demand for practical cooperation among Asian<br />

nations in polar science and logistics has been ever<br />

increasing. China, Japan and the Republic of Korea,<br />

which are the Asian members of the Council of<br />

Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP),<br />

had informal communication on this matter for years.<br />

At the COMNAP Meeting in Brest in 2003, Korea and<br />

Japan agreed to establish a regional ‘East Asian group’<br />

l e g a C I e s 555

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