Focus areas

A panoramic view of the Dja Forest Reserve in Cameroon. ITTO is an action-oriented organization 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. Photo: A. Walmsley/TRAFFIC

ITTO is an action-oriented organization. It formulates policies relevant to its objectives and assists members to implement those policies through its thematic programmes and a portfolio of projects and other activities. Most projects and activities are implemented by national and local-level organizations, including government, civil society and the private sector. The secretariat supervises, monitors and evaluates the field programme under the direction of the International Tropical Timber Council.

The Organization has six major focus areas. Please click on the links below for more information.

• Sustainable forest management

  Managing and conserving tropical forests

• Economics, statistics and markets

  Improving the transparency of and expanding international markets for tropical timber

• Sustainable forest industries

  Developing efficient and value-adding tropical forest-based industries

• Climate-change mitigation and adaptation

  Addressing climate change

• Capacity building

  Raising the capacity of forest stakeholders to manage and benefit from their resources

• Contributions to Sustainable Development Goals