From 6 to 8 May 2002, FAO and UNEP held an Expert Consultation on "Strategies for Land Cover Mapping and Monitoring" at Artimino, near Florence in Italy. The Consultation, which was attended by about 60 experts from around the world, provided FAO/UNEP with advice on the merits and strategies for a proposed new Cooperative Programme: the Global Land Cover Network (GLCN). The primary goal of the GLCN is to improve the availability of global information on land cover and its dynamics. Currently available land cover information often lacks the required levels of accuracy, or is collected using a variety of different standards, thus preventing comparison between the regions and compilation of global totals.