The Planning Group wishes to acknowledge the funding and active support of the five co-sponsors and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) which financed the GTOS technical secretariat and provided additional scientific and logistical assistance. We also wish to thank the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology, Germany, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), which hosted and partly funded workshops. Our thanks go to the Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Morocco and the University of Maryland, USA, which organised and hosted the second meeting of the Planning Group and Data Management Group, repectively. In addition, the Joint Planning Office of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) made an important contribution through its support to the joint GCOS/GTOS Terrestrial Observation Panel.
