Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 20 • 16th November 2007

Tropical Timber Organisation Waiting for New Agreement to Enter Into Force

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Delegates at the forty-third session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC-43), held from 5-10 November 2007 in Yokohama, Japan, discussed issues concerning operational, project and policy work for 2008-2009. Most notably, they discussed the Biennial Work Programme 2008-2009, which was adopted, and the preparations for entry into force of the new governing treaty, the International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), 2006. The Council has committed US$10.1 million for new projects and activities for the conservation and sustainable management, use and trade of tropical forest resources.

The Council also reviewed the status of the ITTA, 2006, which has only been ratified by four countries - the US, Malaysia, Switzerland and Poland - but which must be ratified by 10 consumer and 12 producer countries before it enters into force. The ratification process is complex and lengthy, and not a top priority for many members. Because of uncertainty over when the ITTA, 2006 will enter into force, some important decisions were put on hold. For example, a new action plan for ITTO work under the ITTA, 2006 were ultimately left hanging. Some expressed that it was too soon to conclude work on issues pertaining to the new Agreement because it has not entered into force. The members therefore gave priority to smaller and more immediate matters. They decided to host a high-level meeting in Accra, Ghana from 2-5 June 2008, to review and clarify the operational issues needed to be considered on the entry into force of the new agreement.

The ITTA, 2006 builds on the foundations of the previous agreements and focuses on the world tropical timber economy and the sustainable management of the resource base, simultaneously encouraging the timber trade and improving forest management. It also allows for the consideration of non-tropical timber issues as they relate to tropical timber.

The Council is the governing body of the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO). It meets regularly to discuss a wide-ranging agenda aimed at promoting sustainable tropical forest management and the trade of sustainably produced tropical timber.

For more information on the 43rd Council session or ITTO in general, visit http://www.itto.or.jp

For daily reporting and a summary of the meeting, see IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin at http://www.iisd.ca/forestry/itto/ittc43/

ICTSD reporting.