Capacity building is at the heart of the GEO-Wetlands initiative since it will provide the fundamental contribution to achieve the following main objectives of its Implementation Plan:
- Engaging providers and users of Earth observation based and other wetland related data and information;
- Advocating the use of diverse Earth Observation data and satellite-based information;
- Delivering information in a user-friendly, harmonized and quality-ensured way.
Previous (e.g. Globwetland2) and ongoing (e.g. Globwetland Africa, SWOS) experience have shown that capacity building is the main measure to allow realizing these objectives since it represents the actual interface between GEO-Wetlands and the users. It is the backbone for setting up the GEO-Wetlands Community of Practice, since the trainings
- raise the awareness among the users of the existing techniques and data;
- help to ensure the acceptance of these techniques by the users;
- lead to a sustainable and longtime adoption of tools and methods.