Welcome to GLOBAL WADER

Global Wader is a community-led initiative working to build the definitive register of shorebird tracking datasets — from local studies to flyway wide projects

Global Wader has three main purposes:

Maintain an up-to-date register of all wader/shorebird tracking projects, under taxon specific uniform metadata.
Encourage best practices in the long-term storage of tracking data, including the use of specialist repositories via a partnership with Movebank.
Facilitate collaborations between trackers, scientists and conservationists, including promoting open access to data, and assist with data-sharing where appropriate, particularly for efforts towards the conservation of these species.

As a data owner, you will:

Retain full ownership and control of your data. Global Wader has only the access you choose to grant — data are never shared with third parties without your explicit permission.
Increase the visibility and impact of your datasets, promoting new collaborations in both research and applied conservation (see examples).
Safeguard the long-term preservation and re-use of your hard-won data by linking it to stable repositories and metadata systems.

Although data owners can choose to register only metadata, granting Global Wader access to the underlying tracking data is essential for generating meaningful low-level summaries. For example, we can produce summary overviews of all tracking data available for a given area, together with the contact details of relevant data owners. This makes it easier to identify potential collaborators quickly — something that can be critical for time-sensitive conservation efforts (see an example). These summaries are created without sharing any tracking data itself, and no information is ever shared without the explicit prior consent of data contributors. Please refer to the data agreement form for full details, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.