From an environmental point of view, mountains are particularly sensitive and important for monitoring the state of health of our planet. Only through distribution of meteorological climatological and atmospheric composition monitoring points in mountain regions, coupled with modeling simulations will we be able to thoroughly analyze complex pollutant transport mechanisms and better understand imminent global changes. The Himalaya–Karakoram Range, because of its elevation and geographic location, represents one of the ideal places for studying long-range pollutant transport systems on a regional scale and for monitoring changes induced by mechanisms that act on a global scale through monsoon circulation. The Ev–K2–CNR promotes interdisciplinary remote-area research in environmental and the earth sciences. Recently, it launched the project SHARE -Asia (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment in Asia) for development of an integrated system of measurements that will contribute to increasing general scientific knowledge on climatic and pollution related processes while helping build local capacity for monitoring the relevant phenomena. SHARE – Asia currently includes the Pyramid Meteo Network (PMN), a climate monitoring network founded in 1994 by the Ev–K2–CNR, comprising six stations installed in Nepal’s Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), and two stations in Pakistan on the Baltoro Glacier. The meeting that generated the papers in this volume was held in Rome on 16–17 November 2005. It was organized by the Ev–K2–CNR and promoted by theItalian National Research Council (CNR) in collaboration with the Italian National Mountain Institute (IMONT). The purpose of the meeting and this book is to highlight the uniqueness of the scientiphic work of Ev–K2–CNR in important international projects like Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP), Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABC), International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC), Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW), and Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS). The Ev–K2–CNR thus aims to create a unique opportunity for dialogue between major environmental scientists and experts, highlighting the close relationship between diverse themes with a common thread: in-depth comprehension of the environmental phenomena that are determining the health of our planet.

The Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory is the symbol of the Ev-K2 -CNR Project. The project actually began in 1987, when Prof. Ardito Desio, 90 years old at the time, enthusiastically launched a new geological and geodetic research campaign in the Himalayan area. However, it was only with the building of the Pyramid International Laboratory-Observatory, inaugurated by Prof. Desio himself in 1990, that the project acquired a unique ‘‘logistic base’’ for its scienti?c research. The laboratory, located at 5050 m a.s.l. in the Khumbu Valley, on the Nepali side of Mount Everest, is in fact the ?rst high-altitude scienti?c research center of its kind. It is self-sufficient in its energy supply and contains all common scienti?c instrumentation, making it a suitable place for studying climatic and environmental changes, medicine and human physiology in extreme conditions, geology, geodesy and seismic phenomena. Over time, a wealth of knowledge, initiatives and international relationships have been accumulated and continue to be added to by Ev-K 2 - CNR through research in the ?elds of medicine and physiology; environmental sciences, earth sciences, anthropological sciences and clean technologies. The Ev-K 2 - CNR has been able to play a strategic role in the framework of collaboration amongst institutions, governments and organizations for the exchange and transfer of experiences, technologies and scienti?c and cultural knowledge. The increasingly interdisciplinary approach to research by the team has also led to the development of integrated programs for promoting the socio-economic development of local populations and environmental safeguarding in the region, such as the international Partnership initiative created through the Italian government around Ev-K 2 -CNR’s expertise, or the regional Ev-K 2 -CNR Project ‘‘Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment in Asia’’ (SHARE-Asia), aimed at the establishment of a network of research and monitoring stations for the long-term study of evolutionary environmental processes in the Himalayan–Karakoram region, with a strong technology transfer and capacity-building component to the bene?t of local populations and research institutions.