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Little is known about the biogeochemical, energy, and water cycles of the Northern Eurasian landmass, a carbon-rich region capable of significantly influencing global climate. In response to this deficiency, the Northern Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) was formed in 2004 to better understand and quantify feedbacks between Northern Eurasia and the global climate. This partnership actively monitors and analyzes natural and human-induced changes within Northern Eurasia and assesses the effects of these changes on current and future global climate. This article summarizes the first group of NEESPI projects, which have mostly focused on assembling regional data bases, organizing improved environmental monitoring of the region, and studying the individual environmental processes.

In August 2007, a meeting was held at the Aspen Global Change Institute that addressed the role of the Northern Eurasian Landmass in the global Earth system. The meeting brought together members of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEEPSI) to discuss how current and future research efforts in the region can better support global climate projections. One conclusion of the meeting was that more attention be focused on local-to-regional-scale biochemistry modeling for the NEEPSI region. This and other recommendations were codified in a protocol and roadmap that were produced at the meeting.