ITTO at the XIV World Forestry Congress

7 September 2015

ITTO is participatingin the XIV World Forestry Congress (WFC) ‘Forest and people: investing in a sustainable future’ to be held in Durban, South Africa from 7-11 September 2015, one of the major forestry events of the year. ITTO will share its experiences and lessons learned in implementing sustainable forest management in the tropics  through a series of side events, participation in high level dialogues and a display of ITTO’s work at a booth.

Monday, 7 September, 12:45-14:15     Hall 2FH
“A new tool to guide us in tropical forest,
The ITTO Voluntary Guidelines for the sustainable management of natural tropical forests”
ITTO has published  new policy guidelines for the sustainable management of natural tropical forests in 2014, replacing its original guidelines published in 1992, taking into account  recent knowledge and developments in forest management and providing guidance to forest owners, managers and decision-makers on policy development, governance, conservation of forest biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, livelihoods of forest-dependent people, sustainable supply of timber, non-timber forest products and environmental services, among others.  The Guidelines will be launched at the side event,  highlighting the outcomes of a regional training workshop on the subject for the Asia-Pacific region.

Tuesday, 9 September, 12:45-14:15     Hall 1B
“Better outcomes for people and forests: the importance of locally-tailored solutions, long-term commitments and working in partnership”
This side event is being jointly organized with BirdLife International and FAO and will share experiences and lessons from the field with focus on making financing more accessible for biodiversity conservation.

Tuesday, 8 September, 19:45-21:00      Hall 1B
“ITTO and CITES: collaboration on threatened tropical tree species”
The side event will highlight the most recent outcomes of the ITTO-CITES Programme for implementing CITES listings of tropical timber species, with focus on African timber species such as Pericopsis elata and Prunus africana,  through DNA traceability identification and the application of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology.

Wednesday, 9 September, 18:15-19:30    Hall 3A   
“Mangrove forests and their ecosystems - Opportunities and challenges for their future”
Mangrove forest is one of the major components of global forest cover and ecosystems. This side event, will be jointly organized with ISME and will share experiences and lessons learned on mangrove conservation, restoration and sustainable use.

Thursday, 10 September, 12:45-14:15    Room 22DEF  
“Electronic tools for ensuring timber legality and wood utilization”
Guaranteeing the legal origin of timber and timber products remains one of the major challenges for both producer and consumer countries. This side event jointly organized with the National Forest Institute of Guatemala (INAB) will present the achievements, lessons learnt and challenges in developing electronic systems legal origin for timber and timber products.

In addition to these side-events, ITTO will participate in the “High-level dialogue: towards a vision of forest in the post-2015 era”, as well as in other relevant meetings during the Congress, including:, the Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) advisory group, the side event on “Forest and climate change in Central Africa” organized by COMIFAC and CIFOR, the panel discussion under Plenary session 2 on “Investments that will help build a resilient future”, the side event on “Promoting sustainable certified NWFPs to sustain livelihoods of local communities” organized by CAF, etc.

ITTO will be displaying its most recent work through videos and relevant publications at its booth (A-1) located in the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.