ITTO launches new multilingual website

ITTO announced the launch of a new website available in four languages today at the 41st session of the International Tropical Timber Council, which commenced in Yokohama on Monday.

The Council is the governing body of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). It meets regularly to discuss a wide-ranging agenda aimed at promoting sustainable tropical forest management and the trade of sustainably produced tropical timber.

New website features and upgrades were announced by ITTO's Executive Director, Dr Manoel Sobral Filho, during his presentation on the status of implementation of the ITTO Biennial Work Programme for the Years 2006–07. The new ITTO website provides information and publications in four languages to further accommodate its members' needs and to inform its growing body of interested stakeholders from around the world. Improvements include the addition of a decisions database, which houses all decisions made by the Council since its first meeting in 1986, as well as country profiles of its 33 producer members through a site devoted to information from the Status of Tropical Forest Management 2005 report released earlier this year.

This site upgrade also supports the organization's commitment to greater transparency and information-sharing through the provision of comprehensive information on ITTO's activities in English, French, Spanish and Japanese. Users can access their language of choice by going to www.itto.or.jp and clicking on the corresponding language link in the left-hand corner at the top of the page.

For further information on ITTO and the 41st session of the ITTC, visit: www.itto.or.jp.