John Krebs Field Station, Wytham, Oxford. OX2 8QJ

The Global Canopy Programme (GCP) is an alliance of 37 scientific institutions in 19 countries, which lead the world in forest canopy research, education and conservation. The GCP evolved from an ESF / NSF funded International Canopy Science Workshop in Oxford, held in November 1999, where 29 international experts from 10 countries developed a template for the alliance concluding that, by working together, canopy researchers would be able to leverage more funding for a major collaborative Natural Science project to investigate "nature's last biotic frontier". They called for significant new funding on the scale of large Physical science projects (US$20-50 million) to undertake this pioneering task.

The GCP operates under several guiding principles: to address issues raised by international conventions, such as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, to raise funds and disperse grants for collaborative research, to help develop the technological base for canopy research, to develop an international education programme to increase awareness and understanding of this biodiverse environment, to actively promote the conservation and sustainable use of natural forests, to form links with organizations coordinating research relevant to the GCP and the International Conventions (source: http://www.globalcanopy.org/index.php)