Wednesday 10 November 2020: Delegates at the 56th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council heard that a total of about USD 7 million was raised in 2019 and 2020 under ITTO’s new programmatic approach for a wide range of activities. The information was conveyed by ITTO Executive Director Gerhard Dieterle on day 2 of the virtual session convened this week.

Dr Dieterle stressed that voluntary financial contributions to the work of the Organization have been on a declining trend for more than a decade, indicating a need to re-assess the mechanisms by which the Organization attracts funds. The programmatic approach, which is being piloted until 2022 under Council Decisions, has four programme “lines”: 1) Legal and Sustainable Supply Chains; 2) Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; 3) Forest Landscape Restoration and Resilient Livelihoods; and 4) Emerging Issues and Innovation.

Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic in his statement on day 1 of the session, Dr Dieterle said, “I firmly believe that our new pilot programmatic approach provides an excellent basis to respond to the needs of member countries during the crisis in a timely and focused manner”.

On day 2, Dr Dieterle listed seven activities for which funds were received in 2019/2020 (see table).

Note: BMEL = German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

In his presentation, Dr Dieterle also listed funding proposals submitted by the Secretariat that were under consideration by donors; noted those elements of the programmatic approach that require completion, such as developing a hierarchical set of criteria and indicators for assessing programme outcomes; indicated the status of implementation of the Council decision on piloting the programmatic approach; and outlined ITTO’s ongoing work to engage with other international organizations and processes.

Several member countries took the floor after Dr Dieterle’s presentation, including Costa Rica, Japan and Peru.

The report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Implementation of ITTO’s New Financing Architecture will be presented and discussed later in the session as part of this agenda item. The full range of discussions on this and other agenda items will be summarized in the final report of the 56th Session of the Council.

Also on day 2:

• Council Chair Björn Merkell announced that Mr. Kheiruddin Rani (Malaysia), Director-General Malaysian Timber Industry Board, has been nominated as Vice-chair of the Council.
• The Credentials Committee reported that quorum had not yet been reached for the present Council session.
• The Secretariat presented a report on procedures for extending or renegotiating the International Tropical Timber (ITTA), 2006, and the Council discussed its implications. The producer and consumer spokespersons indicated broad support for extending the agreement for another five years but reported that some members require more time to complete domestic and legal procedures to enable a formal Council decision to be taken on time in 2021 prior to the expiration date of the ITTA 2006 on 6 December 2021.

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.

Daily coverage of the session by IISD reporting services is available at https://enb.iisd.org/forestry/itto/ittc56/