  The squared eigenfunctions of the spectral problem associated with the
Camassa-Holm (CH) equation represent a complete basis of functions, which helps
to describe the inverse scattering transform for the CH hierarchy as a
generalized Fourier transform (GFT). All the fundamental properties of the CH
equation, such as the integrals of motion, the description of the equations of
the whole hierarchy, and their Hamiltonian structures, can be naturally
expressed using the completeness relation and the recursion operator, whose
eigenfunctions are the squared solutions. Using the GFT, we explicitly describe
some members of the CH hierarchy, including integrable deformations for the CH
equation. We also show that solutions of some $(1+2)$ - dimensional members of
the CH hierarchy can be constructed using results for the inverse scattering
transform for the CH equation. We give an example of the peakon solution of one
such equation.
