Over the past decade nations around the world have invested scarce resources in civilian radar remote sensing from space, through capital investments in satellites and data-acquisition programs, organizational support for training, technical assistance, and purchases of high-technology equipment and materials. This paper provides a retrospective on major collaborative initiatives that have taken place in Latin American related to RADARSAT-1 over this period and outlines challenges still to be faced if RADARSAT and other imaging radar systems are to reach their full potential to inform operational resource managers and policy-makers. The purpose of this paper is to assess RADARSAT-1 initiatives in Latin America in terms of accomplishments and lessons learned in three areas: (1) technology development, transfer, and exchange between Canadian and Latin American experts; (2) applications to natural resource monitoring and management through the involvement of operational users; and (3) incorporation into international and national policies for sustainable development. RADARSAT-1 achievements are measured in terms of long-term goals described in the EverGreen Plan, a 1989 proposal designed to build indigenous capabilities and encourage operational use and acceptance by political, economic, and business leaders. This assessment is based on the results of a survey of GlobeSAR-2 national coordinators and is set in the context of a review of RADARSAT-1 programs that have taken place in Latin America over the past decade. A thematic analysis of 278 papers presented at the IX Latin American Remote Sensing Symposium is included to highlight resource application areas in which RADARSAT-1 has proven most successful. The authors have played active roles in RADARSAT-1 initiatives during the past 10 years. Christine Nielsen was co-author of The EverGreen Plan, and served as a consultant to Radarsat International (RSI) in 1991, responsible for designing an international education strategy prior to the launch of RADARSAT-1. Tania Sausen is a leader in remote sensing training and education programs at INPE. Over the past ten years she has organized many seminars and training courses, primarily related to ERS. Sausen is President of Technical Commission VI ‐ Education and Communication for the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.