Pattaya, Thailand, 15 November 2022: ITTO and the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) Secretariat will work more closely together in assisting tropical countries and stakeholders to conserve, restore and sustainably manage their forests under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed today by ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru and UNFF Director Juliette Biao.

The MOU for a joint initiative between the two bodies was signed on the sidelines of the 59th session of the International Tropical Timber Council, which is being convened this week. It was announced by Dr Biao in her intervention during the Council plenary.

The overall objective of the joint initiative is to support Member States of the UNFF and ITTO member countries to restore, maintain and sustainably manage tropical forests and promote the sustainable production of timber, non-wood forest products and ecosystem services. The two bodies will identify, develop and implement joint actions to support achievement of the six Global Forest Goals and the sustainable development of ITTO producer members, promote capacity building in ITTO producer countries, enhance collaboration with other partners, and increase forest cover in the tropics.

Ms Satkuru said the joint initiative is an opportunity to take advantage of complementarities between ITTO and UNFF.

“Both ITTO and the UNFF Secretariat are strong supporters of tropical countries and their efforts to use and conserve their forests as part of their sustainable development,” she said. “We have complementary mandates and approaches, so it makes sense for us to combine forces in areas of mutual interest, thereby magnifying our impacts.”

“This MOU is timely and has the potential to enhance the contributions of ITTO country members who are also members of the broader UNFF membership to implement the UN Strategic Plan on Forests 2017–2030 and its Global Forest Goals and other forest-related global agendas,” said Dr Biao.

Also on day 3 of the 59th Council session:

• The committees on Finance and Administration, Economic Information and Market Intelligence (EIMI) and Reforestation and Forest Management met to make progress on their agendas. Among other things, EIMI officially closed three projects—on lesser-used species in Honduras, enhancing the capacity of forest communities in forest governance, monitoring and community development in Ghana, and improving forest governance in Mozambique.
• Ms Anna Tyler was nominated as Vice-chairperson of the Council. In accepting the nomination, Ms Tyler said, “I look forward to continue working with you all, and I will make every effort to progress the Council’s work”.
• In her capacity as Vice-chairperson, Ms Tyler presented a report on the ITTO Fellowship Panel. She said that, in total, 97 applicants had been screened in 2023, of which 16 (five female) were eligible to be awarded. The panel recommended that the Council award fellowships to these 16 eligible applicants, at a total value of USD 107 000. Ms Tyler said the main reason for the low level of eligibility of applicants was that they were nationals of member countries that are in arrears with their assessed contributions. A delegate from the USA encouraged producer countries to continue to pay their dues so that future leaders in forestry in their countries could continue to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the ITTO Fellowship Programme.
• The Secretariat presented a progress report on implementation of the ITTO biennial work programme for 2021–2022 (extended into 2023) and a report on the draft ITTO Biennial Work Programme for 2024–2025.

Under an agenda item on cooperation and coordination with other organizations, Ms Satkuru summarized work undertaken by the Secretariat since the previous Council session to cooperate with international organizations and other entities. As part of this agenda item, UNFF Director Dr Biao, FAO Senior Forestry Officer Ms Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, and Ms Jamal Annagylyjova, from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (by video) made statements to the Council:

• Dr Biao expressed her appreciation for the contributions of the ITTO Secretariat to the work of the UNFF in the past year.
• Ms Wertz-Kanounnikoff presented on the GEF8 Indo-Malaya Critical Forest Biome Integrated Programme, in which FAO is an implementing agency, and indicated that ITTO is a potential technical partner in it.
• Ms Annagylyjova presented on the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the ways in which ITTO and the CBD Secretariat are working collaboratively under an existing MOU.

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/ittc59-international-tropical-timber-council