First Regional Workshop on the ITTO Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests

31 August 2015

Participants in the First Regional Workshop on the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests planted trees in a field visit to the SFM demonstration site in the Sungai Tekala Forest Reserve, Selangor, Malaysia. The photographed participants are from Malaysia, Myanmar and Fiji. Photo: H. Ok Ma, ITTO

The First Regional Workshop on the ITTO Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests was held on 17–20 August 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Malaysia, the Forest Department of Peninsular Malaysia and the Forest Research Institute Malaysia. The workshop, which was attended by 24 participants from ITTO member countries in the Asia-Pacific region, aimed at stimulating the development and implementation of national and subnational guidelines on SFM in the region, drawing on the ITTO Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests.

The workshop, provided participants the opportunity to discuss key issues on sustainable forest management with peers from other countries in the region.

The International Tropical Timber Council adopted the ITTO Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests in 2014 in accordance with its Decision 4(XLIX) after considerable inputs from member countries, including Malaysia. The guidelines update and replace the ITTO Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests, which were published in 1990. The new guidelines take into account new knowledge and the emergence of a wide range of new challenges and opportunities in tropical forest management. The guidelines are designed to guide forest managers, policymakers and other forest stakeholders in addressing the policy, legal, governance, institutional, ecological, social and economic issues that need to be taken into account in the planning, implementation and evaluation of SFM in natural tropical forests.

The outcomes of the workshop will be shared at an ITTO side-event to be convened at the World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa (12:45–14:15, 7 September 2015, Hall 2FH). The workshop outcomes will also be reported to the International Tropical Timber Council at its 51st Session, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur on 16–21 November 2015.

Download the ITTO Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests here