The overall objective of the Ramsar convention is the conservation and wise use of wetlands by national actions and international cooperation as a means to achieving sustainable development.

Achieving the vision of the Ramsar Convention is a complex and challenging task. It requires that all the national and international bodies involved in the implementation of the Convention have access to suitable information to better understand wetland areas, their processes and their significance in the global environment; to manage efficiently wetland areas so that they may yield the greatest continuous benefit to present and future generations; to inform the general public and policy makers of the importance of wetlands and promote their conservation and protection worldwide. Existing and future Earth Observation technology may play an increasingly important role in supporting these activities.

In this context, and encouraged by the interest of the user community and the Ramsar Bureau, the Agency decided to initiate the GlobWetland project. The primary objectives of the GlobWetland project was the development of a user-tailored information service based on EO technology to support national and local authorities in reporting to the Ramsar Convention and managing wetlands worldwide.

The GlobWetland project has been conceived as a user-oriented project. Therefore, the project has been 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.