The Framework for Wetland Inventory which forms the basis for this Handbook was prepared by the Scientific and Technical Review Panel’s Expert Working Group on Wetland Inventory, led by Max Finlayson (Australia). The “Recommended standard metadata record for the documentation of wetland inventories” provided in Appendix V of the Framework was developed for the Ramsar Convention by John Lowry and Max Finlayson, then of the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (eriss), Australia, with the financial support of the government of the United Kingdom, as support for the development of a second phase of the Global Review of Wetland Resources and Priorities for Wetland Inventory (GRoWI 2). The framework and guidance on harmonized data and information for core inventory, wetland ecological character description, Ramsar Site designation, and Article 3.2 reporting was developed by Dave Pritchard, then of BirdLife International, during a period of secondment to the Ramsar Secretariat.