The GlobWetland Project, funded through the European Space Agency's Data User Element (DUE), aims at developing demonstration products based on earth observation to improve the ability of wetland managers to better monitor and assess the condition of wetlands within their respective countries.

Earth observation's potential to provide products and services for Ramsar convention priorities was successfully demonstrated through the Treaty Enforcement Services using Earth Observation (TESEO) program in 2001 / 2002. GlobWetland is designed to expand on the successes of TESEO and is focused on end-user requirements from 17 national focal points around the globe.

The GlobWetland project is conceived as a user-oriented project, where the final Information Service should provide a clear response to specific user needs. Therefore, the project is built up around the information requirements provided by a User Group made up of the National Authorities responsible for the implementation of the Ramsar Convention in several countries worldwide. This set of information needs represents the core of the project and the basis for the development of the GlobWetland Information Service, which should be implemented, validated and assessed for a representative set of wetland areas (mainly Ramsar Sites) proposed by the members of the User Group in their respective countries.

The Project implementation team is composed of Vexcel (Canada), Wetlands International (Netherlands), Synoptics (Netherlands), and Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH (Germany). The team will work collaboratively with the end user community, starting with the User Requirements Documentation (URD) that was provided to ESA in preparing the project. Phase 1 of the project will focus on the design and prototyping of information products developed in response to the user needs. Following a critical review of the outcomes of Phase 1, Phase 2 will be implemented whereby operational products will be delivered for 50 wetland sites.