March 2007 The first Asian Conference on Permafrost (ACOP) was co-sponsored by the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering (SKLFSE) of the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI), the Geographical Society of China (GSA), and the Interna- tional Permafrost Association (IPA), and co- chaired by Academician Guodong Cheng, President of the Chinese Academy of Sci- ences Lanzhou Branch, and Professor Jerry Brown, President, International Permafrost Association. A total of 262 participants from 17 countries including 99 non-Chinese attended the Conference. Both Russia and the United States had large delegations. The majority (89) of the 163 Chinese attendees were from the hosting organizations (CAREERI and SKLFSE) of the Chinese Academy of Sci- ence. A total of 90 oral papers and 38 posters were presented with the majority of the Chi- nese reports dealing with the experimental design and results of investigations for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) railroad. The non-Chinese papers dealt with a variety of scientific and engineering topics including several sessions devoted to paleoenviron- mental and periglacial topics. A 214-page volume containing 233 abstracts was pub- lished and is available on the IPA web site < http://www.geo.uio.no/IPA/ >. The Conference presentations were organized according to five themes. 1. Permafrost engineering including railroad and highway embankments, pipelines and foundations; 2. Frost hazards and periglacial environ- ments in mountain and plateau regions; 3. Climatic and environmental controls of the cryosphere: 4. Permafrost hydrology, cold regions water resources and land use; 5. Monitoring, mapping and modeling of per- mafrost. The majority of the Chinese papers were focused on the scientific and innovative engineering aspects of construction of Qing- hai-Tibet Railway (QTR), which traverses 632 km of “warm” (-1 to 0˚C) permafrost on its 1,142-km route between Golmud and Lhasa. There, the problems were not only the high elevations encountered with most of the route above 4,000 m, and a small portion above 5,000 m), but also the “warm” per- mafrost and how to preserve the permafrost as a long-term, stable foundation for the rela- tively high-speed railway under the existing climatic conditions and under a projected cli- matic warming of about 2.6˚C in average on the QTP during the next century. Many unique scientific and engineering designs included: thick (about 5 m) roadbed fills; crushed-rock revetments to allow air convection; cross-sectional, large-diameter piping with dampers that would be opened only during cold seasons; more than head- high tunnels that also allowed passage of cold air; extensive (longest 13 km) elevated bridges over ice-rich permafrost to protect it, as well as to provide unrestricted passage for wildlife (antelope, wild donkeys, and occa- sionally wild camels), domesticated sheep, goats, and yaks; tunnel to protect the railway from rock debris slides and avalanches; and the proactive utilization of the cold winter winds (use of thermosphyons) to preserve or to enhance the heat loss from the roadbed and the underlying permafrost in exceptionally ice-rich areas. These reports were presented by scientists and engineers from 33 Chinese research and design institutions, construction companies and universities and represented innovative concepts, designs and the initial results. The first Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) awards for best reports were given to three young researchers; one each from China, Russia and Japan. Following the Conference 56 partici- pants visited the northern portion of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway (QTH) and the recently established Beiluhe Permafrost Engineering Experimental, Testing and Monitoring Station (BPEETS in 2000) by Great challenges of and innovative solutions to the unstable permafrost in Central and High Asia under a warming climate —the first Asian Conference on Permafrost Lanzhou, China, August 7-9, and Post-Conference Field Excursion across the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau from Golmud to Lhasa, August 10-16, 2006 Side slopes and protective berms of crushed rocks 40-50 cm in diameter along the QTR experimental embankment at the Beiluhe Permafrost Engineering Experimental, Testing and Monitoring Station (BPEETS). The Qingshuihe Land Bridge over ice-rich, warm permafrost wetlands. Tunnel in permafrost in the Fenghuo Shan Mountains in the interior QTP. 54 Conference Reports