In a new video produced as part of an ITTO project in the Chimbo River basin, Ecuador, local women speak about their involvement in the project and how it is empowering them to improve their lives while helping restore the degraded river basin.

The international community is increasingly recognizing the important role that tropical forests and forest products play in the fight against climate change, while providing much-needed materials and enabling rural communities to achieve economic development. Fast-tracking this role will require a renewed effort at all scales and from all actors—and the international community can lead the way.

Fourteen fellowships were awarded by the International Tropical Timber Organization at the 55^th Session of International Tropical Timber Council. The newest group of fellows represents 9 different producer member countries and includes 4 female fellows.  The total amount of the fellowships was US$97,666.40.

Green tropical timber supply chains, biological corridors and forest monitoring are all important components of forests-based solutions to climate change, according to a side-event organized by ITTO and the Japan Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) at the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Madrid, Spain.

Participants in the 55th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council visited the Missahoé Reserved Forest near Togo’s capital, Lomé, on the final day of the session. This forest was the site of a pre-project and project funded by ITTO more than a decade ago to encourage the rehabilitation and sustainable management of the forest

The International Tropical Timber Council has welcomed new guidelines aimed at assisting the restoration of degraded tropical forests and forest lands and thereby enabling the sustainable management of landscapes over time. This was one of the outcomes of day 5 of the Council’s 55th Session.