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The Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) has been founded in 1996 by four United Nations bodies (FAO, UNEP, UNESCO, WMO) and an international scientific community (ICSU). Co-sponsoring organizations are the primary governing authorities of the terrestrial observing system.

GTOS is a programme for observations, modelling, and analysis of terrestrial ecosystems to support sustainable development.

The specific aim of GTOS is to improve the quality and coverage of terrestrial data, to integrate it into a worldwide base and to facilitate its access by scientists, policy makers and the public.

The Global Terrestrial Observing System fulfils its mission through a number of complementary activities. It facilitates communication and cooperation between existing initiatives and promotes the harmonization of measurement methods and data processing.

The four main GTOS panels are:

• the Coastal GTOS (C-GTOS),
  
• the Terrestrial Observation Panel on Climate (TOPC),
  
• the Terrestrial Carbon Observation panel (TCO)
  
• the Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics panel (GOFC-GOLD).

GTOS has two sister observing systems, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), and the Global Oceanic Observing System (GOOS). Each system is part of the larger plan to provide comprehensive, global data on the biophysical environment, ecosystem processes and the socio-economic forces that influence them.