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Global Alliances

International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER)

ILTER is an association of scientists engaged in long-term, site-based ecological and socioeconomic research. The network was established in 1993 to provide the infrastructure necessary to support communication and database management between existing studies worldwide. The vision of this network is to advance understanding of global ecosystems and to develop solutions to current and future environmental and socioecological problems.

ILTER’s ten-year goals are to:

  • Foster and promote collaboration and coordination among ecological researchers and research networks at local, regional and global scales

  • Improve comparability of long-term ecological data from sites around the world, and facilitate exchange and preservation of this data

  • Deliver scientific information to scientists, policymakers, and the public and develop best ecosystem management practices to meet the needs of decision-makers at multiple levels

  • Facilitate education of the next generation of long-term scientists

17 countries have established formal national LTER programs and joined the ILTER network, with a number of others actively pursuing the establishment of national networks. Australia's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Forest Sites is Australia’s contribution to the ILTER network. The ACCRS is one of Australia’s Long Term Ecological Research sites, along with 4 other sites:

Australian Research Sites

Australian Canopy Crane Research Station
Kangaroo Island Long Term Ecological Research Site
The Central Highlands of Victoria Site
Tumut Fragmentation Experiment, SE Australia Site
Warra Long Term Ecological Researach Site, Tasmania

The Global Canopy Program (GCP)

A global alliance linking studies of forest canopies worldwide into a collaborative program of research education and conservation addressing biodiversity, climate change and poverty alleviation.

The Global Canopy Program was created in 2000 to link existing and new projects studying the world's forest canopies into one integrated global program of research, education and conservation.

Prime areas for investigation are the function of forest canopies in the maintenance of biodiversity and the influence of forests on climate change, particularly in relation to sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.



The Global Canopy Program links with the International Canopy Crane Network - a consortium of twelve canopy cranes already in existence for studying forest canopies. Professors Nigel Stork and Roger Kitching have been members of the Global Canopy Program Steering Committee since its inception and are helping to guide its development. Professor Kitching also co-convenes Canopy Biology Training Programs in Brazil and Malaysia, funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Global Opportunities Fund and the UK Darwin Initiative. 



The United Nations Environment Program, with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has provided funding for proposal development to establish a series of 'whole forest observatories' across the tropics. These will be linked to others already in existence including the Australian Canopy Crane. The aim of the network is to investigate how climate change might alter the way forests function and what risks this poses to humans and the huge diversity of life such forests sustain.

If the US$17 million network is fully funded, the first five Observatories will be set up in Brazil, Ghana, Madagascar, India and Malaysia. The Governments of all five countries have given their backing to the plan. It is proposed a 'canopy crane' will be installed at each site to provide mobility within the whole forest from treetops to soil. Instruments on towers will monitor fluxes of water and carbon dioxide between the canopy and the atmosphere. Each Observatory will act as a monitoring and early warning system for the signs of climate change and will deliver critical information to a network of stakeholders, including governments and communities. 


Links to Other Canopy Crane Sites

Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility, Washington, United States 


Surumoni Canopy Crane Project, Venezuela, South America. 


Field Science Centre for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido Japan. 


LAK - Projekt Leipziger Auwaldkran, Leipzig, Germany