Review of the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) Program over the Past 10 Years

Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) is a component of both the International Global Environmental Change (GEC) Research Program and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). It is the first sub-program in the area of global change research proposed and initiated by Chinese scientists and has been implemented in collaboration with the international scientific community for more than 10 years.MAIRS is clearly differentiated from any previous and on-going monsoon-related program. The major theme of MAIRS is to study the human-monsoon interaction in the sustainable development of monsoon Asia. This paper reviews the development and progress of MAIRS over the past decade in the following aspects:(1) Feasibility study, including the development of a concept of Regional Integrated Study of Global Change and a START-SCOPE/ICSU project of rapid assessment of on-going global change research in Asia. Based on these researches, the major challenges for MAIRS are identified and the initial science plan has been drafted during this period. (2) Main contents of the science plan, including critical environmental issues that the monsoon Asia region is now facing, the major research challenges and the proposed main integrated research themes and the four most vulnerable zones, and implementation processes, etc.. (3) Progress in 2006-2016, including organization and structure; scientific activities, research projects and major achievements, and the development of international research network. (4) International visibility of MAIRS and future development:transition to a component of Future Earth/ICSU.