The 59th session of the International Tropical Timber Council, the governing body of the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), was held last week in Pattaya, Thailand.
The International Tropical Timber Council meets at least once a year to discuss a wide-ranging agenda aimed at promoting sustainable tropical forest management and the trade of sustainably produced tropical timber.
The 60th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council will be held in Yokohama, Japan, in December 2024.
International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO)
• ITTO is a treaty-based inter-governmental organisation headquartered in Yokohama, Japan.
• ITTO was established by the International Tropical Timber Agreement of 1983 (ITTA, 1983) to bring together governments to jointly consider issues facing the tropical forest sector and related international trade, including the crucial importance of the tropical forest resource base.
• Following the expiration of the 1983 agreement, ITTO continued operations under a successor agreement, the ITTA, 1994.
• At present, ITTO operates under the ITTA, 2006.
• ITTO is focussed on promoting the sustainable management and conservation of tropical forests and the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests.
Main functions of ITTO:
i) Develops internationally agreed policy guidelines and norms to encourage sustainable forest management (SFM) and sustainable tropical timber industries and trade.
ii) Assists tropical member countries to adapt such guidelines and norms to local circumstances and to implement them in the field through projects and other activities.
iii) Collects, analyses and disseminates data on the production and trade of tropical timber.
iv) Promotes sustainable tropical timber supply chains.
v) Helps develop capacity in tropical forestry.
• The organisation’s 75 members include 37 “producer” countries and 38 “consumer” countries.
• India is a founder member of ITTO. India belongs to the group of the producer member countries.
• The ministry of environment, forest & climate change is the nodal ministry for ITTO related matters in India.
• ITTO’s membership represents about 90 per cent of the global tropical timber trade and more than 80 per cent of the world’s tropical forests.
