ITTO is an intergovernmental organization promoting the conservation and sustainable

management, use and trade of tropical forest resources

ITTO is an intergovernmental organization promoting the conservation and sustainable management, use
and trade of tropical forest resources. Its 59 members represent about 80% of the worlds tropical forests
and 90% of the global tropical timber trade.

A brief history
The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) was established under the auspices of the United
Nations in 1986 amidst increasing worldwide concern for the fate of tropical forests. While almost everyone
was alarmed at the rate of deforestation occurring in many tropical countries, there was also considerable
agreement that the tropical timber trade was one of the keys to economic development in those same
countries. The reconciliation of these two seemingly disparate phenomena is ITTOs story.
ITTOs origins can be traced back to 1976 when the long series of negotiations that led to the first
International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA) began at the fourth session of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as part of that organizations Programme for
Commodities. The eventual outcome of these negotiations was the ITTA, 1983, which governed the
Organizations work until 31 December 1996, when it was superseded by the ITTA, 1994. Negotiations for
a successor to this agreement were recently concluded, again under the auspices of UNCTAD. The ITTA,
2006 is expected to come into force in 2008.
As the first ITTA was being negotiated in the early 1980s, concern over the fate of tropical forests was
increasing and the international community was being asked to take action. By then, conservation had
become at least as important a consideration in the negotiations as trade. This was reflected in the
preamble to the Agreement, in which conservation and trade were accorded equal importance. The
creators of the Agreement believed that a flourishing trade in tropical timber, if based on a well-managed
forest resource, could be a key to sustainable development, providing valuable foreign exchange and
employment while protecting natural forests from destruction, degradation and excision.
The ITTA that eventually came into operation was no conventional commodity agreement. It was, in reality,
as much an agreement for forest conservation and development as for trade. In effect, it preceded the
concerns which featured in the 1987 Brundtland Report and at the Earth Summit in 1992 and its trade
components were as much instruments for tropical forest conservation as ends in themselves.
The ITTA, 2006 builds on the foundations of the previous agreements, focusing on the world tropical
timber economy and the sustainable management of the resource base, simultaneously encouraging the
timber trade and the improved management of the forests. In addition, it contains provisions for

information sharing, including non-tropical timber trade data, and allows for the consideration of nontropical timber issues as they relate to tropical timber.

A unique organization
ITTO occupies an unusual position in the family of intergovernmental organizations. Like all commodity
organizations it is concerned with trade and industry, but like an environmental agreement it also pays
considerable attention to the sustainable management of natural resources. It also manages its own
program of projects and other activities, enabling it to quickly test and operationalize its policy work. Other
features include:

an equal partnership in decision-making, policy formulation and project development between

producing members (tropical developing countries) and tropical timber consuming members
(mostly temperate developed countries);

the active participation of civil society and trade organizations in meetings and project work;

the formulation and implementation of projects in producing member countries, using mostly local
expertise;

frequent meetings of its governing body (the International Tropical Timber Council), meaning a
comparatively rapid pace of debate, decisions and action.

What ITTO does

ITTO develops internationally agreed policy documents to promote sustainable forest management and
forest conservation and assists tropical member countries to adapt such policies to local circumstances
and to implement them in the field through projects. In addition, ITTO collects, analyses and disseminates
data on the production and trade of tropical timber and funds a range of projects and other action aimed at
developing industries at both community and industrial scales. For more information on ITTOs action
program go to ITTO at work, or see the Organizations Biennial Work Programme for 200607.
Members may submit project proposals to the Council for review and financing in accordance with the
ITTO project cycle. Examples include pilot and demonstration projects, human resource development
projects, and research and development projects; the Yokohama Action Plan sets out the types of
activities that the Organization should undertake in project and policy work. All projects are funded by
voluntary contributions, mostly from consuming member countries. Since it became operational in 1987,
ITTO has funded more than 700 projects, pre-projects and activities valued at more than US$280 million.
The major donors are the governments of Japan, Switzerland and the USA.

ITTOs structure
The governing body of the ITTO is the International Tropical Timber Council, which is composed of all the
Organizations members. ITTO has two categories of membership: producing and consuming. Annual
contributions and votes are distributed equally between these two groups, which are called caucuses.

Within each caucus, the dues and votes of individual members are calculated based on tropical timber
trade and, in the case of producers, also on the extent of tropical forests within the country.
The Council is supported by four committees, which are open to all members and observers and provide
advice and assistance to the Council on policy and project issues. Three of the committees deal with key
areas of policy and project work: economic information and market intelligence; reforestation and forest
management; and forest industry. These committees are supported by the Expert Panel for the Technical
Appraisal of Projects and Pre-projects, which reviews project proposals for technical merit and relevance
to ITTO objectives. The fourth committee, on Finance and Administration, advises the Council on matters
related to the budget and other funding and administrative issues concerning the management of the
Organization. ITTOs organizational structure is shown graphically in the Yokohama Action Plan (which has
been extended to the end of 2007).
Non-member stakeholders have established two advisory groups to facilitate their participation in the
Council and to provide input to the Councils decision-making process. These are the Trade Advisory
Group (TAG) and the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG).
ITTOs small secretariat of about 35 staff is based in Yokohama, Japan. It is headed by an Executive
Director, who is responsible to the Council for the administration and operation of the Agreement in
accordance with decisions made by the Council. The Organization also has regional officers in Latin
America and Africa to assist with project monitoring and other duties.

ITTO's objectives
ITTO's objectives, as set out in the ITTA, 1994, are:
a. To provide an effective framework for consultation, international cooperation and policy
development among all members with regard to all relevant aspects of the world timber economy;
b. To provide a forum for consultation to promote non-discriminatory timber trade practices;
c. To contribute to the process of sustainable development;
d. To enhance the capacity of members to implement a strategy for achieving exports of tropical
timber and timber products from sustainably managed sources by the Year 2000;
e. To promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from
sustainable sources by improving the structural conditions in international markets, by taking into
account, on the one hand, a long-term increase in consumption and continuity of supplies, and, on
the other, prices which reflect the costs of sustainable forest management and which are
remunerative and equitable for members, and the improvement of market access;
f. To promote and support research and development with a view to improving forest management
and efficiency of wood utilization as well as increasing the capacity to conserve and enhance other
forest values in timber producing tropical forests;
g. To develop and contribute towards mechanisms for the provision of new and additional financial
resources and expertise needed to enhance the capacity of producing members to attain the
objectives of this Agreement;
h. To improve market intelligence with a view to ensuring greater transparency in the international
timber market, including the gathering, compilation, and dissemination of trade related data,
including data related to species being traded;
i. To promote increased and further processing of tropical timber from sustainable sources in
producing member countries with a view to promoting their industrialization and thereby increasing
their employment opportunities and export earnings;

j.

To encourage members to support and develop industrial tropical timber reforestation and forest
management activities as well as rehabilitation of degraded forest land, with due regard for the
interests of local communities dependent on forest resources;
k. To improve marketing and distribution of tropical timber exports from sustainably managed
sources;
l. To encourage members to develop national policies aimed at sustainable utilization and
conservation of timer producing forests and their genetic resources and at maintaining the
ecological balance in the regions concerned, in the context of tropical timber trade;
m. To promote the access to, and transfer of, technologies an technical cooperation to implement the
objectives of this Agreement, including on concessional and preferential terms and conditions, as
mutually agreed; and
n. To encourage information-sharing on the international timber market.

ITTOs official mission statement

The ITTO facilitates discussion, consultation and international co-operation on issues relating to the
international trade and utilization of tropical timber and the sustainable management of its
resource base.

ITTO members
Producing
Africa
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Congo
Cte d'Ivoire
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Gabon
Ghana
Liberia
Nigeria
Togo
Asia & Pacific
Cambodia
Fiji
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Myanmar
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Thailand
Vanuatu
Latin America
Bolivia
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Mexico
Panama
Peru
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela

Consuming
Australia
Canada
China

Egypt
European Union
Austria
Belgium/Luxembourg
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Japan
Nepal
New Zealand
Norway
Republic of Korea
Switzerland
United States of America

Contact us
International Tropical Timber Organization
International Organizations Center, 5th Floor
Pacifico-Yokohama 1-1-1, Minato-Mirai,
Nishi-ku, Yokohama, 220-0012 Japan
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
Web:

+81-45-223-1110
+81-45-223-1111
itto@itto.or.jp
www.itto.or.jp