The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) initiated the CAS Actionplan for West Development in 2000, and the first phase of the plan ended in 2005 with great achievements and new proposals. The plan stepped into its second phase in 2006, while some of the research projects launched in the first phase continued, and several new ones started. Researches and demonstrations on degraded ecosystem restoration in 8 typical regions in the west of China such as Xilingele Prairie, Loess Plateau, Heihe River Basin, Tarim River Basin, Upstream River Basin of Minjiang, Karst Region in southwest China, the Three Gorges Reservoir Region and the Three Rivers Source Region, are being conducted; synchronization experiment of remote sensing and ground observation for comprehensive data acquisition in the Heihe River Basin has been initiated; and key technology research and equipment development for the grid connected photovoltaic systems in the west of china is been implemented. Researches on the stability of frozen soil roadbed of QinghaiTibet railway and sand disasters along the railway, and high technology development and industrialization critical to the West Development, are going to be conducted soon. The paper illustrates the research project arrangement in the second phase of the CAS Actionplan for West Development, and introduces the primal progress of those initiated projects.