Volume 25 Number 4 2016

ISSN 1022–5439

A newsletter from the International Tropical Timber Organization to promote the conservation and sustainable development of tropical forests

Council appoints new head of ITTO
Meeting in November 2016 at its 52nd session, the International Tropical
Timber Council appointed Dr Gerhard Dieterle as ITTO’s new Executive
Director for the next four years. A citizen of Germany and the first ITTO
Executive Director from a consumer country, Dr Dieterle is highly qualified
for the post, with 35 years of experience in national and international forest
policymaking.

Dr Dieterle’s appointment comes at a moment that demands assured
leadership. Globally, forestry faces challenges and opportunities on multiple
fronts—such as those posed and presented by climate change; trade policies;
the rights of indigenous peoples andlocal communities; biodiversity
conservation; demand for land,

Criteria and indicators revised; C&I in Mexico;
forest management audit in Gabon; ITTO–CITES
Programme in Latin America; Council session

Contents
Continuing the work on C&I..................................3
The participatory development
of C&I in southeastern Mexico..............................8
How well are companies implementing SFM?.....12The ITTO–CITES Programme in Latin America.....16
52nd session of the International
Tropical Timber Council....................................20
Regular features
Fellowship report.................................................24
Market trends.......................................................27
Recent editions....................................................30
Meetings..............................................................32

EditorConsulting editor
Editorial assistant
Secretarial assistant
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Alastair Sarre
Kenneth Sato
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Cover image: ITTO’s newly appointed Executive Director, Dr Gerhard
Dieterle, addresses the 52nd session of the International Tropical Timber
Council, November 2016. Photo: K. Sato/ITTO
Above: Foresters conduct an inventory in the Kabaung Reserved Forest,
Myanmar, as part of activities under ITTO project RED-PD 038/11 Rev.3(F). Good information on the extent and condition of forests is essential
for SFM. Photo: Myanmar Forest Department

2 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

… Editorial continued
water and wood; food security; and theSustainable Development Goals. Dr Dieterle
will also be tasked with working withmembers to strengthen the Organization’s
governance and financial controls when
he takes office in April 2017.
Since its inception, one of the key challenges
ITTO has been addressing is the promotionof sustainable forest management (SFM) asa unified way of managing the many oftencompeting demands and claims on forests.
The concept has evolved in the Organization’s
30 years of existence and will no doubt
continue to do so as human societies change,along with their needs from forests. ITTO
pioneered the concept of criteria andindicators (C&I) as a way of describing,monitoring and assessing SFM, publishing,in 1990, Criteria for the Measurement of
Sustainable Tropical Forest Management.
Since then, the Organization has revisedthese criteria and accompanying indicators
several times in light of changing
circumstances, policies and attitudes towards
forests. ITTO published the latest revisionof the C&I in 2016, and the article on page
3 introduces this new version. Criteria
characterize the essential components of
SFM, and indicators are ways of assessing
each component. When monitored overtime, C&I show changes and trends in thebiophysical, socioeconomic and policy
conditions relevant to SFM.
Are C&I simply a tool for policymakers andinternational organizations, or are they also
useful at the local scale? An ITTO project,reported by Reygadas Prado and Franco
Cáceres on page 8, worked with indigenous
and local communities in southeastern
Mexico to adapt “global” C&I to local
circumstances as a way of understanding,promoting and implementing SFM. The
project found that the locally adapted
C&I—and, crucially, the participatory
adaption process employed—have brought
new confidence to communities in applying
silvicultural practices and planning anddocumenting their forest operations. Morework needs to be done by the communities
to put forest management on a sustainablefooting, but the C&I project has been an
important step, to the extent that the authors
advocate the incorporation of the local C&I
in national forest regulations.

Another ITTO project, reported on page 12
by Ahimin and co-authors, involved a forest
management audit of 14 forest concessions
in Gabon using a set of principles, criteria
and indicators (PCI) for African forests.
The audit found that only a few of theaudited forest companies have achieved
a high level of compliance with SFM
principles at the field level. Although thisis a disappointing finding, indicating thatcompanies need to strive much harder toimplement SFM, it does show the benefitof the PCI as a yardstick for monitoring
performance, and more such audits inindustrial-scale forest concessions—backed
up, if necessary, by government-imposed
sanctions for non-compliance—would
undoubtedly encourage greater efforts.
The article on page 16 changes tack tocontinue (from previous editions) our
examination of the ITTO–CITES Programme
for Implementing CITES Listings of Tropical
Tree Species, this time in Latin America,
where Programme activities have achieved
impressive results. Speaking at the 52nd
session of the International Tropical
Timber Council, the CITES Secretariat’s
Milena Sosa Schmidt reported that, globally,
the ITTO–CITES Programme has brought
about a remarkable shift in expectations
in both range states and importing states
about the listing of tree species. She told
the Council that, thanks to the Programme,
previously held erroneous beliefs in CITES
signatory countries about CITES listingsof tree species have given way to positive
support, which will undoubtedly be to thelong-term benefit of species conservationand trade.
This and other outcomes of the 52nd sessionof the International Tropical Timber Council(page 20), including the appointment
of Dr Dieterle, new funding for ITTO
Fellowships and projects, and steps to increasetransparency, show that the Organization iswell placed to continue helping bring about
SFM and a sustainable timber trade in thetropics, both of which are vital for the
future of the planet.

Continuing the work on C&I
ITTO has publisheda new edition of
its criteria andindicators forsustainable tropicalforest management
by Jürgen Blaser1
and Steven Johnson2
1 Professor of International
Forestry and Climate Change,
School of Agricultural, Forest andFood Sciences, Bern Universityof Applied Sciences, Switzerland(juergen.blaser@bfh.ch)
2 ITTO Secretariat,
Yokohama, Japan

Measuring REDD+: Local people receive training in measuring tree diameters to estimate carbon stocks in the Meru Betiri National Park, East Java,
Indonesia, as part of ITTO project PD 519/08 Rev.1 (F). Photo: FORDA

Criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest
management (SFM) are arguably one of the most importantand innovative policy instruments for operationalizing theSFM concept (ITTO 2011). Criteria characterize the essential
components of SFM, and indicators are ways of assessing eachcomponent. When monitored over time, C&I show changes
and trends in the biophysical, socioeconomic and policy
conditions relevant to SFM.
Since 1990, nine C&I schemes covering some 150 countries
have been established, collectively encompassing all the major
ecozones—boreal; temperate; subtropical and tropical dry;
and tropical humid. Grainger (2012) provided a critical andcomprehensive analysis of the schemes and their strengths
and weaknesses.

Evolving nature of C&I
ITTO pioneered the development of C&I in tropical forestsin the early 1990s, publishing the world’s first set of criteria
for SFM (Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable
Tropical Forest Management; ITTO 1992) with the aim ofenabling the assessment of the condition of tropical forests
in producer member countries and identifying weaknesses
in forest practices and the improvements needed. By 2000,
based on ITTO’s early work and the outcomes of the 1992 Rio
Earth Summit, C&I initiatives had been launched worldwide(Caswell et al. 2014), including the Montreal Process (1994) for
temperate and boreal forests; Forest Europe (for European
forests), beginning in 1995; the Tarapoto process for the
Amazon countries (also starting in 1995); and Principles,
Criteria and Indicators for the Sustainable Management ofAfrican Natural Tropical Forests (published by the African
Timber Organization and ITTO in 2003).

ITTO published Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable
Management of Natural Tropical Forests in 1998 (ITTO 1998a,b),
an updated version of its original criteria (i.e. ITTO 1992)
that included manuals for applying the C&I at the national andforest management unit (FMU) levels. ITTO subsequently
published the Revised ITTO Criteria and Indicators for
the Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests including
Reporting Format (ITTO 2005), updating the C&I andproviding a clear template for monitoring and reporting.
Since 2005, significant progress has been made in further
developing C&I. The predominant view is that C&I are tools
for adapting management over time (rather than an end inthemselves) to maintain the health and productivity of forestsin the light of changing economic, social and environmental
conditions and demand for forest goods and environmental
services. Taking this view into account, a conference ofinterested parties (including ITTO) in 2003 identified “seventhematic areas” of SFM based on the criteria common to
the major C&I processes. From 2007, these seven thematicelements have formed the basis of the common understandingof SFM in the United Nations system (UNGA 2007) andhave provided the organizing framework for the periodic
global forest resources assessments produced by the Foodand Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),
to which ITTO provides inputs based on its own C&I.
In 2014, ITTO’s governing body, the International Tropical
Timber Council, decided that, based on experience using
the C&I for monitoring, assessing and reporting on tropicalforests, another comprehensive review was needed to ensurethat ITTO’s C&I continue to meet the evolving needs of forest
stakeholders and to fully inform the development of forest
policies and management practices. The most recent editionof the ITTO C&I (ITTO 2016) is the outcome of that process.
It is timely in light of recent global developments in forest
ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 3

… Continuing the work on C&I
Figure 1: The various sectors with direct influence on the conservation and sustainable management of natural tropical forests

Private sector

The forest
extraction(“logging”)
drivers

The forest
conversion
drivers

Governments

Natural tropical forests

Local communities

The local
interests/
access toresources
drivers

The REDD+ andconservation
drivers

Global community
Source: ITTO (2015).

policy, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and theParis Agreement on climate change, as well as recent work
among C&I processes and FAO to streamline and rationalize
national and international reporting on forests. The use of the
C&I is voluntary; their purpose is to assist countries in theirefforts to achieve SFM and also to help bring consistency
to international data.
The ITTO C&I are designed as a framework, within which
each country can develop its own system for determining
sustainability at the national and FMU levels. C&I are an
evolving concept and therefore need periodic review andrefinement in the light of experience and changing economic,
social and environmental conditions. Such revision shouldtake into account new knowledge on the functioning of
tropical forest ecosystems, the vulnerability of forests tonatural hazards, the (planned and unplanned) humanimpacts on forests, and the ever-changing needs of society
for forest goods and environmental services. Moreover, thecapacity to measure indicators, and their technical, financial
and political feasibility, will change over time, and knowledge
will improve on which are the “best” indicators for assessing,monitoring and reporting on tropical forest management.

Role of C&I
C&I are playing important roles in a range of forest-related
developments and issues, including as a foundation forinternational initiatives to assess forest governance in the
4 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

context of REDD+1 and to establish principles, criteria andindicators for sustainable intensive woodfuel production (FAO
2010). C&I are also relevant to the assessment of forestrelated trends pertaining to the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD)’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets (CBD 2013).
A number of countries apply C&I in national forest carbon
calculations and in related efforts to put a value on carbon in
the broader context of SFM. C&I frameworks have served asmodels for developing national environmental indicators andC&I applicable to, for example, rangelands/grasslands,
agricultural crops, water and minerals. The experience andexpertise gained in developing and applying the ITTO C&I andother sets of forest-related C&I processes could be valuable
in similar initiatives in other fields (Caswell et al. 2014).
Many actors at the national and landscape levels haveinterests in forests (Figure 1), some of which are compatible
and some of which are not. For example, some stakeholders
might want to preserve a forest untouched, while others mightwant to clear it for commercial crops or mineral extraction.
Between these two extremes lies a wide range of actors witha broad set of forest uses. For them, C&I constitute a key toolfor ensuring that all forest values are accounted for in the
management and use of the resource.
1

REDD+ is the term given to the efforts of countries to reduce emissions fromdeforestation and forest degradation and foster conservation, sustainable
management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (www.
forestcarbonpartnership.org/what-redd).

Benefits of C&I
C&I constitute a common policy tool to assist countries
in monitoring, assessing and reporting on trends in forest
conditions and progress toward SFM at various levels, whileallowing for differences within and between countries.
Improvements in the quality, coverage and consistency of
C&I data in an increasing number of tropical countries
has enabled more comprehensive regional and global forest
assessments, such as ITTO’s reports on the status of tropicalforest management (Blaser et al. 2011) and FAO’s global forest
resources assessments. Countries that use C&I for monitoring,assessment and reporting are likely to be well positioned torespond to external requests for forest-related reporting andto meet the requirements of independent forest management
certification schemes (several ITTO members have used
the C&I as a stepping stone in the development of national
forest certification protocols, either independently or withestablished certification bodies).
The ITTO C&I can be used for monitoring, assessing andreporting on the production and protection of goods andenvironmental services in all types of tropical forests,
both natural and planted, and for addressing the needs ofspecific stakeholder groups in tropical countries. They areapplicable at the national/subnational and FMU levels, andthey provide a basis for developing a global picture of thestatus of forest management. Figure 2 schematizes the useof the ITTO C&I.
The information generated by the use of the ITTO C&I helps
in communicating the status of SFM and efforts to achieve it.
It assists countries in developing strategies for SFM as well
as for REDD+, forest law enforcement, governance and trade,

Good work: A woman works in a tree nursery in Benin. Ensuring the healthand safety of workers is an important aspect of SFM. Photo: J. Blaser

and forest and landscape restoration initiatives. The C&I
enable the identification of research and development needs
in areas where knowledge is deficient, as well as weaknesses
in the implementation of SFM. They assist in improving
policies and strategies for SFM and in identifying theneed for international assistance and cooperation.

The criteria
The ITTO C&I specify seven criteria as essential elements of
SFM. Criterion 1, “Enabling conditions for sustainable forest
management”, is concerned with the general legal, economic
and institutional framework, without which actions included

Figure 2: The use of the ITTO C&I as a tool for monitoring, assessment and reporting on sustainable forest management

International reporting:Status of Tropical Forest
Management, and others

National level: compilation of reports from FMUs and, where appropriate, at the landscape level, thus
consolidating information for monitoring, assessment and reporting on SFM and fulfilling national reporting
requirements to ITTO and other international fora

Landscape level (where appropriate)

FMU 1 (forest concession)

FMU 2 (planted forest)

FMU 3 (community forest)

FMU …

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 5

… Continuing the work on C&I

Criterion 6, “Soil and water protection”: Two people navigate a river on the border between Cameroon and Gabon, where a long-term ITTO project
helped in the establishment and management of the Mengamé Wildlife Sanctuary. Forests play crucial landscape-scale roles in maintaining downstream
water quality and flow and controlling flooding and sedimentation. Photo: M.J. Dourojeanni/ITTO

under the other criteria will not succeed. Jointly with Criteria 2,“Extent and condition of forests”, Criterion 1 provides thenecessary information to assess the enabling conditions for
SFM. Criterion 3, “Forest ecosystem health and resilience”, isconcerned with the risk to forests posed by destructive agentsand stresses. Criteria 4, “Forest production”, Criterion 5,“Forest biological diversity”, and Criterion 6, “Soil and water
protection”, are concerned with maintaining the multiple
functions of forests to deliver products and environmental
services. Criterion 7, “Economic, social and cultural aspects”,
addresses the economic, social and cultural values of forests
and the extent to which forest management maintains thosevalues, for example by adherence to social safeguards
established in national and international financing
mechanisms.

The indicators
An indicator is a quantitative, qualitative or descriptive
attribute that, when measured and monitored periodically,
indicates the direction of change in a criterion. Indicators
identify the information needed for assessing and monitoringchange, both in the forest itself (outcome indicators) and as
part of the environmental and forest management systems
used (input and process indicators). A time-series of thevalues of any measurable or clearly descriptive indicator can
provide information on the direction of change, either towards
or away from SFM. The indicators cannot by themselves
establish the sustainability of management, however.

6 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

The 58 indicators presented in the latest edition of the ITTO
C&I are arranged in 18 indicator groups that subdivide thecriteria. They have been identified and refined based largelyon the information received in the 28 national C&I workshops
convened by ITTO from 2002 to 2014. The measurement of
any one of the indicators over time will provide informationthat is both necessary and significant in assessing progress
towards SFM. The indicators have been defined so they areclear and practical to monitor; to the greatest extent possible,
they are based on available knowledge and data.
It is clear, however, that information is not readily available
for all indicators in any given country. Where data are lacking,a self-rating system for assessing data quality (e.g. “high”,“medium” or “low”) at the indicator level could be used innational C&I reporting systems, where a rating of “low”
data quality might exclude such data from ITTO’s
aggregated reporting.
Countries face a considerable burden in reporting on various
aspects of forest management to different internationalorganizations. This burden can be minimized by ensuring that
institutions (e.g. the CBD, FAO, ITTO, the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification, the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United
Nations Forum on Forests) coordinate their requests forforest-related data. To the greatest extent possible, theindicators in the ITTO C&I have been selected for theircompatibility with internationally agreed standards anddefinitions. ITTO is also participating actively in efforts
under the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to develop
a “core set” of common indicators of SFM that, if adopted,
will help to significantly reduce the reporting burden on
countries while improving the reliability and consistencyof international data on forests.
If the indicators are to give an accurate picture of trends,
it is important that comparable methods are used between
one assessment and the next and that there is a way of
estimating the accuracy of the data presented. Ideally, thesame methods of measurement and assessment will be usedover time, but data collection and analysis techniques are
dynamic: for example, the measurement of forest extent andquality using remote sensing and geographic information
systems is evolving quickly. Moreover, certain forests aremonitored independently (e.g. under forest certification
schemes) and can provide valuable new inputs to official
reporting. In each C&I report, therefore, countries should
describe the methods used, estimate the accuracy of thedata, and indicate any difficulties encountered in collecting
or analyzing the data.

Conclusion
The new edition of the ITTO C&I is expected to make animportant contribution to national and international forest
policy discussions and to ITTO’s ongoing work. It will also
help ITTO member countries in reporting on their forests,
including on the relevant SDGs and nationally determined
contributions to climate-change mitigation and inestablishing baselines for REDD+.

This article is adapted from Criteria and Indicators for the
Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests, published by
ITTO in 2016 as No. 21 in its Policy Development Series andavailable at www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines. A short video
to promote C&I is available at www.youtube.com/user/ittosfm.

References
Blaser, J., Sarre, A., Poore, D. & Johnson, S. 2011. Status of tropical forest
management 2011. ITTO Technical Series No. 38. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan. Available at www.itto.int/technical_report.
Caswell, S., Tomaselli, I. & Hirakuri, S. 2014. Indicating progress: uses andimpacts of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management.
ITTO Technical Series No. 42. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan. Available atwww.itto.int/technical_report.
CBD 2013. Quick guides for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Version 2.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Available at: www.cbd.int/
sp/targets.
FAO 2010. Planted forests in sustainable forest management: a statementof principles. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), Rome. Available at: www.fao.org/docrep/012/al248e/al248e00.pdf.
ITTO 1992. Criteria for the measurement of sustainable tropical forest
management. ITTO Policy Development Series No. 3. Yokohama, Japan.
Available at: www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines.
ITTO 1998. Criteria and indicators for sustainable managementof natural tropical forests. ITTO Policy Development Series No. 7.
Yokohama, Japan. Available at www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines.
ITTO 2005. Revised ITTO criteria and indicators for the sustainable
management of tropical forests including reporting format. ITTO Policy
Development Series No. 15. Yokohama, Japan. Available at: www.itto.
int/policypapers_guidelines.
ITTO 2011. Twenty-five success stories: illustrating ITTO’s 25-year quest
to sustain tropical forests. Yokohama, Japan. Available at www.itto.int/
publicity_materials/?pageID=2
ITTO 2015. Voluntary guidelines for the sustainable managementof natural tropical forests. ITTO Policy Development Series No. 20.
Yokohama, Japan. Available at: www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines.
ITTO 2016. Criteria and indicators for the sustainable managementof tropical forests. Policy Development Series No. 21. Yokohama, Japan.
Available at: www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines.
Grainger, A. 2012. Forest sustainability indicator systems asprocedural policy tolls in global environmental governance.
Global Environmental Change 22: 147–160.
Thompson, I., Mackey, B., McNulty, S. & Mosseler, A. 2009.
Forest resilience, biodiversity, and climate change: a synthesis of
the biodiversity/resilience/stability relationship in forest ecosystems.
Technical Series No. 43. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, Montreal, Canada.
UNGA 2007. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on
17 December 2007. A/RES/62/98. United Nations General Assembly(UNGA), New York, USA.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 7

The participatory development of C&I in southeastern Mexico
The participationof local people
in developing andevaluating criteria
and indicators
has increased
their capacity
to understand andadopt sustainable
forest management
and certification
by Fabiola Reygadas
Prado and Carlos
Franco Cáceres
National Institute for Forest,
Agricultural and Animal Research(INIFAP), Southeast Regional
Research Centre, Chetumal
Experimental Station, Mexico(reygadas.guadalupe@inifap.gob.mx)

Loading logs: The C&I were reviewed in a harvesting operation in production pine forest in the Santa Catarina Ixtepeji community, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo: C. Franco

Forests in Mexico are strongly characterized by thecommunity nature of their tenure. The country has 31 518
ejidos1 and farming communities2, which collectively own
105 million hectares of land. Some 15 381 of these ejidos
and communities contain more than 200 hectares of forest,
which, combined, amounts to a forest area of 62.2 million
hectares. It is estimated that forest production—the
harvesting of timber, ornamental plants, medicinal plants,
seeds and resin—constitutes the main source of incomefor 2994 forest-owning ejidos and communities(CONAFOR 2012).
Mexico is one of the planet’s top-five megadiverse countries;
it is home to 50% of the 96 Pinus tree species recorded
worldwide, 21 of which are endemic to Mexico (Styles 1993).
Biodiversity is linked to ethnic and cultural diversity, and there
is a close correlation between the location of areas with a highindigenous presence and areas considered to be priority
conservation sites because of their high biodiversity (Merino
Pérez & Segura 2002). The National Forest Commission(CONAFOR) has identified sustainable forest development
as the guiding tenet of Mexico’s forest policy, with the aimof both improving the quality of life of Mexican men andwomen living in forest ecosystems and ensuring theconservation of the country’s forest resources.
Mexico’s southeastern region is home to one of the mostimportant tropical forest resource bases in Latin America.
The permanent forest estate (PFE) in the Yucatán Peninsula
1 An ejido is a land area given to a rural settlement. The allocated area includes
three types of land—urban plots, farming plots and community lands—and it isgoverned through an ejido hierarchical system, with general assemblies thehighest decision-making authority.
2 A farming community is a land area given to a rural settlement. It is administratively
and socially governed through a customary self-government system (mainly basedon a hierarchical structure), with inalienable land tenure and use rights and duties.

8 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

(Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo) covers 761 459
hectares (6% of the total area). In the Gulf of Mexico(Chiapas and Oaxaca), tropical and temperate forests cover
9.9 million hectares (but no estimate of the PFE in thisregion is available).
A total of 92 972 m3 of timber was harvested in the tropicalforests of the Yucatán Peninsula in 2011 (the latest year forwhich processed data are available; SEMARNAT 2011),
comprising 85 109 m3 roundwood equivalent (rwe) ofcommodity tropical timber species (28% of total national
production of commodity tropical timber) and 7862 m3 ofhigh-value timber species (Swietenia macrophylla, Cedrela
odorata and Cedrela mexicana) (46% of total national
production of those species). S. macrophylla, C. odorata andC. mexicana are exported to countries such as Japan, Germany
and the United States of America, generating employment
opportunities for landowners; the average sale price of
1 m3 rwe in 2011 was MXN4000 (equivalent to US$333).
A total of 528 982 m3 of timber was harvested fromtemperate and tropical forests in the Gulf region ofsoutheastern Mexico in 2011; this was mostly softwood
but included 20 632 m3 of commodity tropical timber,with a production value of MXN12.5 million (equivalent
to US$1.04 million).

Forest ejidos : the land basefor the application of C&I
Although there has been a trend in Mexico towards theconversion of forests to agriculture, cattle-ranching and urban
development, the country still has a large forest area (Table 1).
Under current laws, harvesting permits are awarded tolandowners, which in the case of tropical forests (commonly
known as selvas) are mostly ejidos. In ejidos with commercial

Table 1: Natural vegetation area covered by temperate and tropical forests
Area of Mexico coveredby natural vegetation

Natural vegetation area
as % of total land area
in MexicoTemperate forest as %of natural vegetation area
(area in brackets)

Tropical forest as % ofnatural vegetation area
(area in brackets)

Other forest as % ofnatural vegetation area
(area in brackets)

130 million ha

70.4

24.2
(33.4 million ha)

22.8(31.5 million ha)

11.8(16.3 million ha)

Note: These are the latest figures for which official data is available. Natural vegetation = vegetation that differs from crops and vegetation for agricultural purposes.
Source: CONAFOR (2012).

timber stocks, forest operations make important
contributions to local income and employment (Simula etal. 2006). The PFE is the land area belonging to the social
sector through the ejidos system; it is earmarked for forest
production.
Forest management in southeastern Mexico requires
knowledge of the rules that regulate forests as well asawareness of the cultural value of these resources for thepeople living in or near them. Participation in the process
to develop criteria and indicators for the sustainable
management of forest resources can enable stakeholders
in ejidos and communities to become fully aware of theconservation value of their forests and, with the supportof specialized technicians, to become working partners inensuring the conservation of tropical forests and to benefit
fully from their economic use.

Sustainable forest management
in southeastern Mexico
The National Institute for Forest, Agricultural and Animal
Research (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales,
Agrícolas y Pecuarias—INIFAP) implemented an ITTOfinanced project to develop criteria and indicators for Mexico’s
tropical forests. Project PD 351/05 Rev.1 (F) “Criteria andindicators for the evaluation of tropical forest management
sustainability in Mexico (southeastern coastal plains: Gulf

of Mexico and Yucatán Peninsula)”, which commenced inJuly 2006 and was completed in 2016, covered five states:
Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Chiapas and Oaxaca.
Its development objective was to strengthen, encourage andevaluate sustainable tropical forest management in Mexico
with a view to boosting sustainable forest development
through criteria and indicators (C&I) and ensuring thatinternationally traded tropical forest products are sourced
from sustainably managed and certified forests, as statedin ITTO’s Objective 2000 and the Mexican Government’s
Forest Development Plan 2000–2025.
The project implemented and validated ITTO’s C&I, as wellas the C&I of other major international protocols, in nine
forest management units (FMUs) in humid and subhumid
tropical forests in the southeastern region of Mexico. The aim
was to evaluate and monitor economic, social and ecologicalaspects of forest management in those ecosystems andthereby to establish a scientific basis for sustainable forest
management (Figure 1).

Participatory development of C&I
Local people were strongly involved in the project. In total,
the collaborating ejidos and communities accounted for morethan 150 000 hectares of forest and encompassed various
forest types and levels of organization. Taken together, theejidos and communities embodied the difficult road towards
the development of community enterprises and sustainable
forest use (Table 2).
C&I for tropical forests in southeastern Mexico weredeveloped in a series of 60 workshops of four types (Table 3),
with the participation of stakeholders involved in the
management and harvesting of tropical forests. Efforts weremade to obtain the participation of producers from different
ethnic groups, such as Mayas, Tzotziles, Tzeltales andZapotecos, as well as bilingual professionals with ethnic
backgrounds, thereby ensuring that diverse voices were
heard during the process.
The internal organizational structure and history ofparticipating ejidos and communities were key aspects in thedevelopment and evaluation of the C&I. Forest governanceand equitable benefit-sharing are crucial for achieving social
sustainability and for strengthening community identity(Franco et al. 2014).

Employment generator: A worker in a nursery for production forest in
the Santa Catarina Ixtepeji community, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo: F. Reygadas

Workshops were implemented at the state and regional levels
with a view to: clarifying emerging concepts and ideas fromdifferent cultural environments; raising awareness among
resource owners to enable them to progress towards
ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 9

… The participatory development of C&I in southeastern Mexico
Table 2: Description of participating ejidos and communities, by stateState qualities

Ejidos/communities involved
in C&I development

No. ofactive members

Vegetation
type

Forest area under
harvesting (ha)Oaxaca (state with the second-largest temperate
and tropical forest area nationally)

Santa Catarina Ixtepeji localities: Ixtepeji,Tierra Colorada, Yuvila, El Punto

614

Pine-oak forest

10 008Campeche (state with the sixth-largest temperate
and tropical forest area nationally)

20 de Noviembre

75

Nuevo Becal

263

Silvituc63Álvaro Obregón

130

Quintana Roo (state with the largest area of forest
as a percentage of total land area; it also has thelargest area of temperate and tropical forests of all
Mexican states)

Caoba

48

Chiapas (state with the 14th-largest area oftemperate and tropical forest at the national level)

Monte Sinaí II

58

Yucatán (state with the 14th-largest share ofsocial land ownership within its territory)

Francisco Romo Serrano

34

San Agustín

48

Total

1333

21 682Medium subevergreen tropicalforest

25 00051 100
14 000Medium subevergreen tropicalforest23 703542
Montanecloud forest
Mediumsub-deciduous
tropical forest

2 048
2 254

150 337

Source: Prepared by the authors in 2014, modified in 2016.

sustainability; and demonstrating to producers (i.e. members of ejidos andcommunities) the importance of sustainability for their livelihoods as well as fortheir future as communities (Franco et al. 2014). By the end of the process, C&I
had been identified, developed and disseminated. Table 4 shows the number ofprinciples, criteria, indicators and verifiers contained in the C&I for tropical forests
in southeastern Mexico.

Achievements in the implementation of C&I
The C&I were applied in eight ejidos and one community to evaluate sustainable
forest management in a total of 150 337 hectares of forests subject to harvesting.
The concept and use of C&I was disseminated among 1333 ejido andcommunity members who were the owners of these forest areas.
Figure 1: Location of participating ejidos and communities

As information owners, collaborating ejidos and communities
received the results of the sustainable management evaluation,
which are also contained in a document known as the “specific
C&I kit”. This kit sets out a systematic approach to theeconomic, social and ecological aspects of forest resource
harvesting and conservation, incorporating all the necessary
support elements. It is intended that the kit will be updated
over time as each FMU strives to achieve sustainability. The
specific C&I kit is a significant tool to assist users in monitoringand evaluating the sustainability of forest resource
management in their ejidos and communities. It includes asustainability evaluation model for each ejido/community,
showing the rating scale and the level of sustainability obtainedin each aspect and for each principle, criterion and indicator.
The project had a positive and immediate impact on
ejido and community members as well as on participating
technicians. The documentation used in the evaluation of
economic and social C&I proved useful in supporting theindicators of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for thoseejidos involved in certification processes.
Ejidos and communities have used the results of the C&I
evaluation to plan silvicultural activities, improve forest
harvesting practices, identify priority research issues intheir forests, and request funding for the implementationof various activities.
Participation in the project has had significant social impacts
in participating ejidos and communities. In particular, it has
increased understanding and acceptance of C&I as a tool forthe evaluation, monitoring and management of their forestsand for cultural enrichment by encouraging the sharing,
among producers, of knowledge and learning on forest
management planning and harvesting.

10 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

Table 3: Workshop modalities under the ITTO projectWorkshop typeContent

Concept analysis

Analyzing and discussing concepts related to economic, social and ecological aspects of C&I and their uptake

Training on C&I

Providing training to forest technicians, forest producers and authorities in C&I methodologies

Progress mainstreaming

Providing feedback to users on the results of evaluations of their forest harvesting operations by discussing them in the presence of otherstakeholders and extra-ejido/community bodies

Dissemination

Providing opportunities to ejido and community members not directly involved in forest harvesting but otherwise involved in the harvestingor gathering of tropical forest products to provide feedback and participate in achieved outcomes and outputs

Table 4: Number of agreed and applied principles, criteria, indicators and verifiers for tropical forests in southeastern Mexico
SystemPrinciples

Criteria

Indicators

Verifiers

Ecological

4

12

17

32

Social

3

6

13

23

Economic

3

7

10

14

Total

10

25

40

69

Note: “Southeastern Mexico” comprises three states in the Yucatán Peninsula and two in the Gulf of Mexico.
Source: Prepared by the authors, 2014.

Conclusion
The implementation of the project has created a new enabling
condition for those ejidos and communities involved in thedevelopment of the C&I: it has provided a reference andpractical tool for producers for evaluating their forest
management. In the process of learning about, developing
and understanding the application of the C&I, participating
ejidos and communities have become more confident inapplying silvicultural practices and in planning anddocumenting their forest management operations. Amongother things, they have confirmed that their forests can be
harvested more intensively without jeopardizing conservation.
The objectives of increasing employment and economic
vigour through sustainable forest use should be achievedin the medium term; in the meantime, there is a generalneed to strengthen community enterprises, find market
niches for their products, and obtain product certification.
Participating forest technicians and producers have received
training to ensure the effective transfer of the C&I.
A workshop was held to review and compare the C&I andmethodology used in the project with those used by the FSC
for the certification of good forest management—specificallythe principles of “social and labour rights” and “biodiversity
conservation”, both of which have proved challenging for
producers and forest technicians in the certification process.
The workshop found that the C&I developed by the project
are more clearly defined and show how to verify compliancewith each indicator. The FSC’s C&I, on the other hand, areinadequately substantiated because they are not framed within
the social, technical and operational context of ejidos andcommunities in southeastern Mexico. The statistical analysis
applied in the exercise showed that the project’s C&I are 75%
more effective and user-friendly than those of the FSC.

It is considered, therefore, that mainstreaming the project-developed C&I into
Mexico’s forest regulations—such as the preventive technical audit standards
and the Mexican standard for sustainable forest management certification—
would have a positive impact on certification at the FMU level in ejidos andcommunities in tropical forests. This process has already been learned,
implemented and monitored in ejido areas, and therefore the mainstreamingof the project C&I in forest regulations would increase the availability of up-todate information and improve the reporting required to comply with thoseregulations.

Publications produced by the project can be found by inserting the project code
PD351/05 Rev.1(F) into the ITTO project search function at www.itto.int/project_search.

References
CONAFOR 2012. Logros y perspectivas del desarrollo forestal en México 2007–2012. General
Production and Productivity Coordination Department, National Forest Commission(CONAFOR), Mexico.
Franco, C.C., Reygadas Prado, F. & Rosales González, M. 2014. Manejo sustentable de bosques
y selvas tropicales: objetivo de ejidos forestales para el aprovechamiento de espacios comunes
con base a Criterios e Indicadores (C&I) socialmente construidos. Proceedings of the Latin
American Congress on Rural Sociology.
Merino Pérez, L. & Segura, G. 2002. El manejo de los recursos forestales en México (1992–2002).
Procesos, tendencias y políticas públicas. In: E. Leff, I. Pisanty & P. Romero Lnakao eds., La
transición hacia el desarrollo sustentable. Perspectivas de América Latina y el Caribe. National
Institute of Ecology, Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources (SERMANAT), UAMXochimilco and PUMA-UN, Mexico.
SEMARNAT 2011. Anuario estadístico de la producción forestal 2011. Ministry of theEnvironment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Mexico.
Simula, M., Siqueira, G., Sosa Cedillo, V. & Synnott, T. 2006. Mexico’s mission: attention tomarkets and public policies is crucial to the promotion of sustainable forest management in
the country’s tropical forests. Tropical Forest Update 16(2): 12–15.
Styles, B.T. 1993. Genus Pinus: a Mexican purview. In: R. Bye, A. Lot & J. Fa, eds. Biologicaldiversity of México: origins and distribution, pp. 397–420. Oxford University Press.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 11

How well are companies implementing SFM
An ITTO project
has been testing theAfrican regional C&I
as an evaluation toolfor implementing
sustainable forest
managementin GabonAdje Olivier Ahimin1,
Jean Bruno Mikissa2
and Steven Johnson3
1 Project Coordinator, 25 BP

1886 Abidjan 25, Côte d’Ivoire(ahiminolivier@yahoo.fr)
2 ENEF lecturer and researcher,BP 3960 Libreville, Gabon
3 ITTO Secretariat, Yokohama, Japan

Inspection: The audit team meets with the forest management team at a concession in Gabon. Photo: O. Ahimin/ITTO

According to ITTO’s (2005) definition, sustainable forest
management is “the process of managing forest to achieve
one or more clearly specified objectives of managementwith regard to the production of a continuous flow ofdesired forest products and services without undue
reduction of its inherent values and future productivity andwithout undue undesirable effects on the physical and social
environment”. Schlaepfer (2007) went further, emphasizing
the link between SFM and the concept of sustainable
development, which was earlier defined in the Brundtland
report (WCED, 1987) as “development that satisfies the needsof the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”. The term “sustainable
forest management” also incorporates sustainable management
methods based on establishing economic, social andenvironmental criteria and indicators (C&I; Schlaepfer 2007).
In 1990, ITTO was the first organization to establish criteria
as an evaluation tool for sustainable forest management.
It expanded these to include measurable indicators in 1992
and has revised its C&I several times since then, with themost recent version published in 2016 (ITTO 2016). In 1998,
the African Timber Organization (ATO) established its own
principles, criteria and indicators (PCI) for SFM, and shortly
after this the ATO and ITTO combined efforts to establish
a common set of PCI applicable in African countries (ITTO
2003), known as the ATO/ITTO PCI. Most ITTO member
countries in Africa, including Gabon, have increasingly
sought to encourage the development and use of forest
management plans using the ATO/ITTO PCI as a basis.
The multiphase regional ITTO project PD 124/01 Rev. 2 (M)commenced in 2003 with the aim of promoting theimplementation of the PCI in African ITTO member countries
and supporting national-level stakeholders in developing
PCI adapted to national conditions and based on consensus.

12 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

The project recently completed its penultimate phase, with
the ITTO Secretariat overseeing project execution after the
ATO ceased operating in 2011.
As described by Lescuyer (2002), the ATO/ITTO PCI arebased on three pillars: 1) the strong will to adapt the PCI tofield constraints; 2) the importance ascribed to institutional
and legal components for securing or reinforcing forest
policy and law implementation; and 3) the involvementof local people in forest management.
The PCI are divided into two main groups. Principle 1(“Sustainable forest utilization and maintenance of themultiple functions of forests are a high political priority”)
is used for evaluating national-level policy, legal, institutionaland economic arrangements for promoting SFM. Principles
2, 3 and 4 are used for evaluating management plans at thelevel of forest management units (FMUs), as follows:• Principle 2—“The FMU, designated for whatever form ofland use, is sustainably managed with a view to supplying
the required goods and services.”• Principle 3—“The main ecological functions of theforest are maintained.”• Principle 4—“According to the importance and intensityof forest operations, the FMU manager contributes tothe improvement of the economic and social well-beingof workers in the FMU and of local populations.”
Eba’a Atyi (2001) noted that forest management has two
major stages: 1) the development of management plans; and2) the implementation and monitoring of those management
plans. The challenge is to ensure that forest concession owners(forest companies) develop, implement and monitor forest
management plans in compliance with sustainability

principles. With this in mind and through a partnership
between WWF, ITTO project PD 124/01 Rev. 2 (M) andthe ministry responsible for forests in Gabon, audits
were conducted between 2012 and 2014 to evaluate theimplementation of SFM in 14 forest concessions in Gabon.

Material and methods
The evaluation framework used by the auditors was basedon the ATO/ITTO PCI adapted to Gabon by the National
Working Group in Charge of SFM and Forest Certification(a multistakeholder forum) in 2004. The audits addressed
principles 2, 3 and 4—that is, those pertaining to FMUs
in Gabon.
For each indicator and sub-indicator, a qualitative evaluation
was conducted to determine the level of compliance, wherea score of 0 = non-compliant (NC); 1 = partially compliant(PC); and 2 = compliant (C). The “compliance rate” for each
FMU was determined as follows, based on the ATO/ITTO
evaluation framework:• For each indicator, all relevant sub-indicators wereconsidered to carry the same weight based on thefollowing formula:

Training for auditors: Personnel are trained in auditing techniques
and requirements before field visits to inspect logging companies.
Photo: O. Ahimin/ITTO

This method was used to conduct a global analysis of theextent to which SFM was being implemented in the audited
FMUs and to determine those areas in which each audited
company was most advanced and those areas in need of
improvement. The results obtained from the 14 audited
companies were processed using Excel software, and a“principal component analysis” was conducted using
the STATISTICA 6 statistics software.

Results
Factor 1: Forest company compliance with SFM

Indicator compliance rate (%) = 100*∑(scores of sub-indicators/number of sub-indicators)• For each criterion, all relevant indicators were considered
to carry the same weight based on the following formula:

Criterion compliance rate (%) = (∑ compliance
rate of indicators)/number of indicators includedin the criterion)• For each principle, all relevant criteria were considered
to carry the same weight based on the following formula:

Figure 1 shows that the audited forest companies can beclassified into three main groups: A) those certified by the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which achieved global
scores above 70%; B) “forest concession under sustainable
management” (CFAD) companies, which have fully operational
forest management teams (with specialists in forest
management, biodiversity, mapping and social relations, etc.)
and achieved scores close to those obtained by certified
companies (i.e. 50–70%); and C) CFAD companies without
forest management teams—or, if present, only embryonicones—with scores below 50%.
Figure 1: Mean compliance rating in audited forest companies
90

Principle compliance rate (%) = (∑ compliance rateof criteria/number of criteria included in the principle)

%

A

B
C

70
50
30

PG
GE
B
TB
NI

M

TT
IB
SU
NL
Y
RF
TA M
LI
BO
IS
SF
IK
SU
NR
Y

• For each FMU, all three principles were considered tocarry the same weight based on the following formula:

C
RO EB
UG
IE
R
SE
EF
FO
RE
EX
BS
O

10

FMU compliance rate (%) = (∑ compliance rateof principle/number of principles)

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 13

… How well are companies implementing SFM?

Sustainable? A landing in a logging concession in Gabon, where an audit evaluated the implementation of SFM according to the ATO/ITTO PCI.
Photo: A. Ahmin/ITTO

Factor 2: Forest company compliancewith SFM-related principles
Figures 2 and 3 show the level of implementation of thethree SFM principles by forest companies, with the positionof companies relative to their axes showing how closely they
are implementing the principles. When the two figures aresuperimposed, companies in the same area of the graph as
the principles are putting the principles into practice, andthose that are distant are having difficulty in doing so. CEB,

for example, is adhering well to principles 3 and 4. In thesame sub-group, Rougier—even though, like CEB, it has
FSC certification—is facing difficulties in complying withprinciples 2 and 3. All other companies are yet to achieve
an adequate level of compliance with the three principles.
In summary, it appears that most forest companies (especiallythose in Group C) face challenges in implementing principles
2, 3 and 4. The few companies performing relatively well areeither FSC-certified (Group A) or supported by a projectfor managing small Gabonese forest licences (Group B).

Figure 2: Projection of entities (forest companies) in relation
to two factors

Figure 3: Projection of variables (principles) in relation
to two factors

2.0
1.0

1.5
TALIBOIS

0.5

SEEF

0.5

A

CEB

B

0.0
-0.5

BSO SFIKSUNLY
TTIBRFMSUNRY

Factor 2: 11.26%

Factor 2: 11.26%

1.0

TBNI
GEB

C

FOREEX

Principle 3

Principle 2
0.0

Rougier-0.5-1.0

Principle 4

MPG

-1.5
-2.0

-1.0

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

Factor 1: 82.54%

14 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

1

2

3

4

-1.0

-0.5

0.0
Factor 1: 82.54%

0.5

1.0

Discussion
The findings of the audits show that the PCI can be considered
an appropriate tool for ensuring the implementation of forest
policies and laws and for evaluating the involvement of local
people in forest management (Lescuyer 2002) while ensuringbiodiversity conservation. The PCI are also useful forevaluating the planning, implementation and monitoringof SFM. It is easy for forest companies in Gabon to comply
with regulations requiring management plans because suchplans are usually produced by specialized consulting firms.
Implementing the management plans has proved much
more challenging for companies, however, especially those
without defined forest management teams. Only certified
companies and companies working towards certification
have been able to implement their validated management
plans effectively. Certified companies are also performing
satisfactorily in monitoring forest management, which is arequirement of all commercial forest certification schemes.
The evaluation also showed that, although companies haverelatively little difficulty in complying with the forest law(subject to controls by the forest administration), enforcing
other laws (e.g. labour laws on, for example, work safety
and conditions) relevant to SFM is more challenging.

Conclusion
Forest companies appear to have mastered the developmentof management plans, but, in reality, this task is usuallysubcontracted to consulting firms. Many companies haveencountered enormous difficulties in implementing thosemanagement plans and monitoring compliance, indicatinga lack of “ownership” of management plans prepared by third
parties. Only certified companies and companies engaged in
the certification process have been able to address emerging
forest management issues.

Acknowledgements
Adje Olivier Ahimin thanks ITTO and the ministryin charge of forests in Gabon for facilitating the field
missions, the WWF Gabon Office and the ITTO project
PD 124/01 Rev.2 (M) for financial and logistical support,
and ANPN, Omar Bongo University, Conservation etJustice and forest companies for their participation
in audit missions.

Reports and publications produced by the project can be found
via the ITTO project search function at www.itto.int/project_search (using the project number given in the article).

References
Eba’a Atyi, R. 2001. Principes et concepts essentiels en aménagement
forestier. In: B. Foahom, W.B.J. Jonkers, P.N. Nkwi, P. Schmidt & M. Tchatat,eds., Seminar proceedings “sustainable management of African rain forest”,
pp. 3–11. Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
ITTO 2003. ATO/ITTO principles, criteria and indicators for thesustainable management of African natural tropical forests. ITTO
Policy Development Series No. 14. Yokohama, Japan. Available at:www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines.
ITTO 2005. Revised ITTO criteria and indicators for the sustainable
management of tropical forests, including reporting format. ITTO Policy
Development Series No. 15. Yokohama, Japan. Available at: www.itto.int/
policypapers_guidelines.
ITTO 2016. Criteria and indicators for the sustainable managementof tropical forests. ITTO Policy Development Series No. 21. Yokohama,Japan. Available at: www.itto.int/policypapers_guidelines.
Lescuyer, G. 2002. Vers un système mondial de Principes-CritèresIndicateurs pour la gestion forestière? Bois et Forêts des Tropiques272(2): 108–109.
Schlaepfer, R. 2007. Un nouveau cadre pour l’aménagement des forêts.
Revue Forestière Française 59(5): 1–9.
WCED 1987. Our common future. World Commission on Environmentand Development.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 15

The ITTO–CITES Programme in Latin America
This collaborative
programme ishelping improve theimplementation of
the Convention on
International Tradein Endangered Speciesof Wild Fauna andFlora for listed tree
species in Latin
Americaby Sofia R. Hirakuri1,
Ivan Tomaselli2 andSteven Johnson3
1 ITTO–CITES Programme
Assistant Regional Coordinatorfor Latin America (shirakuri@stcp.
com.br)2 ITTO–CITES Programme Regional
Coordinator for Latin America

High-tech: An assistant climbs a mahogany tree to set up time-lapse cameras as part of a phenology study in the Rodal Semillero Tahuamanu
Conservation Concession, Madre de Dios, Peru. Photo: L. Ríos/CANDES

3 ITTO Secretariat, Yokohama, Japan

Since 2007, ITTO and the Secretariat of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora andFauna (CITES) have been implementing a collaborative
initiative, the ITTO–CITES Programme for Implementing
CITES Listings of Tropical Tree Species, with the aim of
ensuring that international trade in CITES-listed timber
species is consistent with their sustainable management andconservation and to increase the quality of information
on listed tree species to facilitate better forest policies
and planning.
The Programme is implemented through activities proposedby range states that are significant exporters of products
derived from listed tree species; in Latin America, participating
countries include Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana andPeru. The Programme complements the work of the CITES
Plants Committee: some activities of the Committee arelinked with the activities of the Programme, including theCommittee’s work on CITES decisions 14.135, 14.145 and14.1461, and CITES oversees the Programme’s activities tomaximize opportunities for integrating the results of theProgramme into the work of the Committee.
The main species covered by the Programme to date in Latin
America are Swietenia macrophylla (bigleaf mahogany),
Cedrela odorata (cedar), Bulnesia sarmientoi (lignum vitae,
palo santo), Aniba rosaeodora (Brazilian rosewood) and
Dalbergia species (rosewood). Table 1 summarizes thecoverage of the ITTO–CITES Programme in Latin America
by range state, species and CITES Appendix.

1 Decision 14.135 (Timber species and medicinal plants: non-detriment findings);
Decision 14.145 (An action plan for the control of international trade in bigleaf
mahogany, Swietenia macrophylla); Decision 14.146 (Action Plan for Cedrela
odorata, Dalbergia retusa, Dalbergia granadillo and Dalbergia stevensonii).

16 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

CITES requires non-detriment findings (NDFs) to allow trade
to occur in species listed in its Appendix II. NDFs are a key
requirement of CITES; they are prepared by the Scientific
Authority of the range state as a way of ensuring that theexport of specimens is not detrimental to the survival of thespecies in the wild, but most tropical countries have difficulty
in preparing NDFs. Aware of the challenges in implementing
the legal requirements of listings, the ITTO–CITES
Programme helps range states strengthen their capacities for
preparing NDFs and ensuring the proper implementationof CITES for listed tree species.
This article examines the impacts of activities implemented
under the ITTO–CITES Programme in improving theimplementation of CITES for listed tree species and ensuring
the sustainability of those species. It covers activities under
the first (2007–2011) and second (2012–2016) phases of theProgramme, which have been funded by a range of donors
led by the European Union.

Non-detriment findings
The tree species addressed by the Programme are notcurrently threatened with extinction but may become so
without trade controls; the Programme also encompasses
species that resemble listed species and need to be regulated
as part of efforts to control the trade in those listed species.
The majority of species addressed by the Programme arelisted in CITES Appendix II, which includes species notnecessarily threatened with extinction but for which trademust be controlled to avoid uses that are incompatible with
their survival. Maintaining a sustainable trade is important,both for the economies of range states in Latin America andas a way of promoting sustainable forest management (SFM)
and conservation. When mahogany was included in CITES
Appendix II in 2002, for example, the Parties to CITESTable 1: Coverage of the ITTO–CITES Programme in Latin America by species, CITES Appendix, and range stateSpecies
Scientific nameCommon name

CITES
Appendix (and year of listing)Main range states coveredby Programme activities

Aniba rosaeodora

Brazilian rosewood

Appendix II, 2010

BrazilBulnesia sarmientoi

Palo santo, lignum vitae

Appendix II, 2010

Bolivia, Paraguay

Cedrela odorata

Cedar, cedro, red cedar

Appendix III, 2001

Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru

Dalbergia spp.

Rosewood

Appendix II, 2016

All tropical regions

Swietenia macrophylla

Bigleaf mahogany

Appendix II, 2002

Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru

Source: Compiled by the authors based on CITES (2016).

stressed that the inclusion was a measure to promote legal andsustainable trade in high-value timber species and should
not be interpreted as a restriction on trade. For any species
listed in Appendix II, CITES requires a scientific and technicalopinion (i.e. an NDF) that trade is not detrimental to theconservation of the species.2
In general, NDFs are prepared using the best available
knowledge of a species. They are done at the discretionof the CITES Scientific Authority in each country, taking
into account the following elements: basic information
on population status; geographical distribution; population
trend; harvest level, including volumes; other biological andecological factors; and trade information.3
The main concern of forest-product importing and exporting
countries regarding the implementation of CITES is thecapacity of exporting countries to prepare NDFs—that is,
to issue technical and scientific opinions based on reliable
information—because most tropical countries have difficulty
generating such information. For example, there is often alack of information on the growing stock and its distribution
in the country or region, as well as on regeneration andecology. In addition, there may be insufficient capacity andresources in CITES Management Authorities with respect
to monitoring, control, transparency, and communicationand information systems.
Given that the contents of an NDF will depend on thenational standards of each country, there is a risk thatspecies protection will be insufficient in countries that lackstringent standards. Additionally, a common problem intimber trade is the ability of customs officials to identify
species and thereby to confirm that shipments correspondwith the documentation.

Main achievements of the Programmein Latin America
The main achievements of the ITTO–CITES Programme
can be summarized in three categories: 1) technical guidance formanagement plans and NDFs; 2) establishment of scientificallysound harvest quotas; and 3) knowledge sharing and capacity
building. A synopsis of these is presented below.
Technical guidance for management plans and NDFs
• National timber yield tables have been developed for bigleaf
mahogany standing volume and export-grade sawnwood in
Guatemala and Peru: this allows the estimation of timbervolumes using trees registered in annual operating plans andhelps in checking the volumes requested by exporters in the
CITES export permit.
• A biological foundation has been established for thesustainable management of mahogany in southern Amazonia(Bolivia, Brazil and Peru) based on long-term studies of growth,
reproduction and regeneration in natural populations inprimary and logged forests.
• An approach has been developed for controlling mahogany
shoot borer (Hypsipyla grandella) in Brazil, using a combinationof measures that increases the efficiency of mahogany drill
control that was previously unknown in the scientific literature.
The approach increases the feasibility of bigleaf mahogany
plantations, because mahogany shoot borer was previously
a major constraint to these.

To fill such gaps, the ITTO–CITES Programme has been
helping build capacity and conduct studies where informationis lacking. The overall aims are to improve the global
framework for the production, collection and analysis
of information related to the biology and management ofspecies and trade in tropical forest products, and to assist
CITES national authorities and the private sector to meetthe requirements for managing and regulating trade in
CITES-listed tree species.
2
3

CITES, Article IV, Paragraph (2), Regulation of Trade in Specimens of Species
Included in Appendix II.
CITES Resolution Conf. 8.6 on Role of the Scientific Authority; at CoP10(Harare, 1997), Resolution Conf. 8.6 (Rev.) was replaced by Resolution Conf.
10.3 on Designation and Role of the Scientific Authorities.

Botany class: Staff at the Fundación Naturaleza Para la Vida in Guatemala
receive training in the botanical identification of Dalbergia species as part ofcapacity building under the ITTO–CITES Programme. Photo: F.N. Palacios

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 17

… The ITTO–CITES Programme in Latin America

From little things: Mahogany flowers collected from the forest floor in the Rodal Semillero Tahuamanu Conservation Concession, Madre de Dios, Peru.
Photo: L. Ríos/CANDES• An empirical framework has been developed for NDFs
by applying silvicultural research results and using thebigleaf mahogany growth and yield model (see below)
to assess the long-term sustainability of management
plans in Brazil.

• National timber yield tables developed for bigleaf
mahogany standing volume and export-grade sawnwoodin Guatemala and Peru are being used to determine annual
export quotas. The validated methodology can also be
applied to other timber species in producer countries.

• Scientific and technical understanding of bigleaf
mahogany populations and regeneration dynamics
in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru has increased.

Tracking, traceability and wood identification• In Peru, implementing agencies have partnered withconservation non-governmental organizations andtimber concessionaires and other companies to develop
and implement biodiversity conservation and sustainable
use objectives for both mahogany and cedar.
• Governmental forestry plans have been developed forthe recovery of bigleaf mahogany and cedar populationsin Peru based on the results of activities conducted underthe ITTO–CITES Programme through a participatory
planning process.
• Guatemala—in partnership with Spain’s University ofCordoba—has developed simple, clear and comprehensive
guidance for CITES exporting parties on the preparation
of NDFs.
Establishment of scientifically sound harvest quotas4• Work has commenced to establish sustainable harvest
quotas for all species based on population estimates andthe demographic characteristics of populations; annual
export quotas have been established in Bolivia and Peru,
based on population surveys.

4 CITES considers that an export quota system is a management tool for ensuringthat exports of specimens of a given species are maintained at a level that has no
detrimental effect on the population of the species.

18 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

• In Peru, the efficiency with which valuable species suchas cedar and bigleaf mahogany can be tracked for theissuance of CITES export permits has increased.
• A pilot study is underway on the use of near infrared
spectroscopy for monitoring the bigleaf mahogany tradein Brazil, with applications in other countries and forother species under investigation.
• In Guatemala, a forensic laboratory has been established
for identifying and describing wood as a way of assistingin legal processes and traceability systems for products
included in CITES.
Knowledge sharing and capacity building• Lessons learned have been communicated to the private
sector and governmental policy and regulatory
institutions in all range states in Latin America.
• A website (www.swietking.org) has been establisheddedicated to disseminating information on bigleaf
mahogany to general and specialized public audiences,
based on an activity implemented in Brazil.
• An activity in Brazil has developed the freely available,
computer-based, user-friendly “bigleaf mahogany
growth and yield model”, which simulates the responseof local mahogany populations to a wide range andintensity of harvest practices. A user manual for themodel has been produced.

• Scientific and technical findings have been disseminatedwidely, including in scientific journals, manuals andpresentations in academic conferences and symposia
at the local, national and international levels; activities
under the Programme in Latin America have collectively
produced more than 50 publications.

of protection and conservation is still often inadequate.
Insufficient information is available on the biology, botany,
ecology, regeneration, growth rates, seeding and appropriate
management techniques to enable the development ofsustainable harvesting models for most of these species,
and more research is needed.

• Peru has strengthened its capacity to make NDFs for tradein bigleaf mahogany. It was able to provide relevant
information to the CITES Plants Committee at its 17th
meeting, with the Committee determining that it was
unnecessary to include Peru in its “review of significant
trade” for this species.

The ITTO–CITES Programme is engaged in several activities
in range states to fill these information gaps. The Programmealso serves to exchange experiences on the management andgovernance of these species in the countries concerned
and to identify the challenges to increasing the effectivenessof CITES implementation for these species in exporting
countries. The Programme involves all stakeholders, including
the private sector, which previously had frequently been left
out of the dialogue on CITES; the Programme is promoting
the greater involvement of the private sector in theimplementation of CITES regulations.

• The Peruvian government has widely used a manualfor evaluating seed trees and regeneration for bigleaf
mahogany and cedar produced by an ITTO–CITES
Programme activity.
• The private sector, the forest products industry and forest
management regulatory agencies in Central and SouthAmerica have benefited from technical extension activities
under the Programme.
• Regional and subregional training workshops have been
held for the CITES Scientific and Management Authorities
in Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana and Peru.
• Regional workshops have been held to share the findings
arising from Programme activities in Latin America andto encourage the exchange of experiences among CITESManagement and Scientific authorities in range states,
thereby strengthening their capacities.
All information generated by the ITTO–CITES Programmein Latin America will help underpin NDFs for CITES-listed
tree species in range states.

Conclusion
NDFs are key to the long-term sustainability of high-value
species such as bigleaf mahogany, cedar, palo santo androsewood. Large-scale selective logging has caused a
reduction in populations of many such valuable species,
and most remaining populations are under heavy pressure.
Although the vulnerability to overexploitation of the species
covered by the Programme—and the role of trade in this—has been recognized in their inclusion in national andinternational listings of endangered species, the level

Activities funded through the Programme on the management
and regulation of trade in bigleaf mahogany, cedar, palo
santo and rosewood in Latin America have successfully
promoted species conservation and sustainable trade.
In particular, they have helped in developing guidance toensure that use is not detrimental to the survival of highvalue timber species, thereby contributing to theimplementation of CITES regulations.
Species listings in CITES Appendix I are sometimes seen as
the key to conservation success. The conservation of highvalue timber or other forest products, however, will be more
successful when a sustainable trade produces returns forforest owners and managers and thereby provides them withan incentive to manage their forests sustainably. Integratingconservation and sustainable timber production is an
important approach that is being promoted in Latin
America through the ITTO–CITES Programme.

More information on the activities carried out under the ITTO–
CITES Programme in Latin America and in other countries inthe tropics is available at www.itto.int/country_activities. A videoon bigleaf mahogany prepared under the programme is available
on ITTO’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/ittosfm.

Reference
CITES 2016. Appendices I, II and III.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 19

52nd session of the International Tropical Timber Council
The Council made a
range of important
decisions, including
the election ofGerhard Dieterleas ITTO’s next
Executive Director

New ED: The ITTO Secretariat and newly elected Executive Director, Gerhard Dieterle (centre), at the 52nd Session of the International Tropical Timber
Council, Yokohama, November 2016. Photo: K. Sato/ITTO

ITTO’s governing body, the International Tropical Timber
Council, elected Gerhard Dieterle as ITTO’s new Executive
Director by consensus at its 52nd session, which wasconvened in Yokohama, Japan, on 7–12 November 2016.
Dr Dieterle won the position from a strong field of six
candidates and after inconclusive deliberations on thematter at two previous Council sessions.
Dr Dieterle, a citizen of Germany, has a strong backgroundfor the post. He has 35 years of experience in national andinternational forest policies, environmental and development
policies, sustainable forest management, landscapemanagement and conservation. Currently at the World Bankand based in the United States of America (USA), Dr Dieterle
has also worked in Indonesia and Togo.
In accepting the appointment, Dr Dieterle thanked his fellow
applicants for their fairness and positive attitudes, as well as
the Council members for their willingness to come together
at the session to resolve the challenges facing ITTO’s future.
“I will invest every effort to nurture this partnership between
producers and consumers,” said Dr Dieterle. “With this, ITTO
can grow and regain financial health.”
In his presentation to the Council before his appointment,
Dr Dieterle said he was committed to acting in the bestinterests of all producer and consumer countries and topromoting an atmosphere of trust, collaboration andpartnership. He will take up his new position in April 2017.
The Council adopted several other decisions during
the session, many of which are aimed at improving thetransparency, governance and administration of theOrganization following significant financial losses arisingfrom failed investments made by previous management in
2013–2015. They include amendments to the staff
20 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

regulations and rules, revision of the ITTO financial rules
and procedures, further measures regarding the financial
impairment, guidelines for addressing ITTO’s financial
shortfall, and standards of conduct for the Executive
Director. The Council decided to establish an ad hocworking group to examine options for rotation between
producer and consumer members in the appointment of
the Organization’s Executive Director. The Council also
received a preliminary report on ITTO’s biennial reviewof the world timber situation for 2015–2016 (see box).

Funding for projects and activities
New projects and activities were funded at the session,
with funding also provided intersessionally in 2016. New
funding from Japan and the USA of nearly US$5 million wasannounced at the session for the financing of ten activities
in the 2015–2016 Biennial Work Programme (BWP) andeleven projects (the Council extended the 2015–2016 BWP
through 2017). Table 1 provides details of funding announced
at the session.
One of the funded BWP activities will allow Indonesia tohost the International Conference on Mangrove Ecosystems
in Bali, Indonesia, in April 2017, and Benin will host a training
workshop on theVoluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable
Management of Tropical Forests in June 2017 under another
newly funded BWP activity. The Republic of Korea informed
the Council that ITTO and the Korea Forest Service (KFS)
had signed a memorandum of understanding earlier inthe year to increase cooperation on the restoration andsustainable management of tropical forests. The agreement
spans ten years and, to facilitate its implementation, the KFS
will second a professional officer to ITTO from early 2017.

Table 1: Financing in 2016 for projects, pre-projects and activities
Project/activity ID number Title

Amount (US$)

Projects
PD 721/13 Rev.3 (F)Building a participatory and inclusive sustainable forest management process for the reduction of
deforestation and forest degradation in the Ixil forest areas of the municipality of Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala

440 873

PD 723/13 Rev.2 (F) Phase I1

Capacity building for strengthening transboundary biodiversity conservation of the Taninthayi range
in Myanmar

100 000

PD 732/14 Rev.2 (M)Improve forest governance in Mozambique

321 138

PD 737/14 Rev.2 (I)Developing supply capacity of wood-based biomass energy through improved enabling conditions
and efficient utilization of degraded forest lands involving local communities in North Sumatra
Province, Indonesia

589 863

PD 741/14 Rev.3 (F)Capacity building for sustainable management of tropical dry forests on the north coast of Peru

437 478

PD 751/14 Rev.2 (M)1

Sustainable forest management in the Chimbo river basin, Ecuador: conserving forest resources
and agroforestry systems as a mechanism to strengthen the economic inclusion of community
families, particularly rural women

130 000

PD 754/14 Rev.3 (F)Rehabilitation and sustainable management of sacred forests on Ramsar sites 1017 and 1018 in Benin

541 031

PD 764/14 Rev.2 (F)Enabling customary landowners to participate effectively in community forest management
schemes within six pilot areas of Papua New Guinea

663 829

PD 765/14 Rev.2 (F)1

Development of a forest landscape restoration programme for Guatemala based on ITTO guidelines

150 000

PD 770/15 Rev.1 (I)Promotion and sustainable management of lesser-used timber species in the moist forests of thedepartments of Atlantida, Colon and Northern Olancho in Honduras

196 224

PD 777/15 Rev.2 (F)Accelerating the restoration of Cibodas Biosphere Reserve functions through proper managementof landscapes involving local stakeholders in Indonesia

564 491

Subtotal funding for projects

4 134 927
Activities under the extended BWP

PP-A/39-162A

ITTO–CITES Programme

PP-A/48-274

ITTO’s participation in international meetings on criteria and indicators

205 000
10 000

PP-A/50-297

Developing ITTO guidelines on gender equity

20 000

PP-A/50-304

Facilitate involvement of the Trade Advisory Group and the Civil Society Advisory Group40 000

PP-A/50-305

ITTO’s cooperation with the Collaborative Partnership on Forests

10 000

PP-A/50-308

Enhance the cooperation between ITTO and the World Customs Organization through the
preparation of guidelines for frontline custom officials in combating illegal timber trade

4 000

PP-A/52-315

Capacity-building workshops on the ITTO voluntary SFM guidelines

59 032

PP-A/52-316

Promote the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of mangrove ecosystems

200 000

PP-A/52-317

Study on timber legality legislation

20 438

PP-A/52-318

ITTO’s outreach at international events

15 000

PP-A/52-319

ITTO Fellowship Programme

Subtotal funding for activities
Grand total

264 427
847 897
4 982 824

1 Partial funding.

Project on wood DNA fingerprinting
achieves win against illegal trade
An ITTO project discussed at the session has built capacity
in seven ITTO member countries in Africa to identify thewood of species at high risk of illegal logging. This project
was one of 17 projects declared completed at the session.
ITTO project PD 620/11 Rev.1 (M) developed DNA
fingerprinting and other tools for verifying claims abouttimber species and geographic origin in tropical Africa forthree important timber tree species—iroko, sapelli andayous—in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, theCongo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon,
Ghana and Kenya. The project was just one element of
ITTO’s wide-ranging work on timber tracking and oversightof timber supply chains in tropical producer countries.
Project support: A delegate of Benin informs the Committee on
Reforestation and Forest Management about a project during the 52nd
Session of the International Tropical Timber Council. Photo: K. Sato/ITTO

Other projects declared completed at the session included onethat made a significant contribution to community-based
forest fire prevention and control activities in Panama;
ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 21

… 52nd Session of the International Tropical Timber Council

Tropical hardwood log imports down in 2015
Global tropical hardwood log imports dropped by morethan one-tenth in 2015, despite an increase in 2013
and 2014, according to preliminary results of ITTO’s
biennial review of the world timber situation for
2015–2016. Frances Maplesden, an expert on theworld timber trade, presented the draft review during
the Council session.
The Biennial Review and Assessment of the World
Timber Situation provides data and analysis on the
production and trade of tropical forest products in
ITTO member countries. The primary source of
information is the Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire—ajoint venture between ITTO, the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe and Eurostat—
sent to member countries each year.
Although tropical hardwood log imports by ITTO
members accelerated in 2014, imports dropped by
12 percent in 2015 (the most recent year for whichdata are available), to 16.9 million m3. Most of thedecline was due to a significant drop in China’s imports,
where overstocking and slowing construction activity
affected demand.
ITTO producer member countries produced
237.6 million m3 of tropical logs in 2015, according
to the draft review, with Indonesia, India, Brazil andMalaysia accounting for two-thirds of total production,
the bulk of which was in the Asia-Pacific region.
Trade in secondary processed wood products (SPWPs),
which had accelerated in 2013 and 2014, declined
in value in 2015, with global imports valued at
US$89.2 billion. Trade in wooden furniture, the mostimportant SPWP, is dominated by imports by the USA,
European Union countries and Japan, and exports
from China and Viet Nam. Malaysia and Indonesia
were important tropical exporters in 2015, although
their exports have remained relatively static, andexports by China and Viet Nam have increased
significantly in the last decade.
The outlook for the tropical timber trade beyond 2016
remains uncertain. Major issues include potential
risks to China’s economic growth and demand, andthe growing trade between countries regarded as
being at “high risk” of illegal logging and trade.

22 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

Thoughtful: Council Chair, Jennifer Conje, at the 52nd Session of theInternational Tropical Timber Council. Photo: K. Sato/ITTO

another (part of the ITTO–CBD Collaborative Initiative forTropical Forest Biodiversity) that has increased information,knowledge and partnerships on transboundary biodiversity
conservation in the Emerald Triangle landscape between
Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic andThailand; and another that helped increase the sustainabilityof the woodflooring production chain in Brazil.

ITTO Fellowships
The Fellowship Selection Panel convened at the 52nd Session
to recommend to Council the awarding of eleven fellowships
to nationals of nine ITTO producer member countries. Theseawards were made possible by the USA’s pledge of US$60 000
to the Freezailah Fellowship Fund. The USA noted that thisProgramme is a top priority for them because it provides
training in tropical forestry for future generations.

ITTO–CITES Programme making
a difference in trade of listed
tree species
A partnership between ITTO and CITES—the treaty for
regulating trade in endangered species—has brought about
a “remarkable” shift in expectations in both range states andimporting states about the listing of timber species, according
to the CITES Secretariat’s Senior Scientific Programme
Officer for Flora. Speaking during the session, Milena Sosa
Schmidt said the partnership had also had a wide range ofother benefits.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) is an international
agreement between governments with the aim of ensuringthat international trade in specimens of wild animals andplants does not threaten their survival. The species coveredby CITES are listed in three Appendices, according to thedegree of protection they need. ITTO and the CITES
Secretariat have been working in close partnership for morethan a decade under the ITTO–CITES Programme for
Implementing CITES Listings of Tropical Timber Species.

Valuable partnership: Milena Sosa Schmidt, the CITES Secretariat’s
Senior Scientific Programme Officer for Flora, speaks at the 52nd Sessionof the International Tropical Timber Council. Photo: K. Sato/ITTO

The inclusion of timber species in CITES Appendices has
accelerated in recent years, said Dr Sosa Schmidt, and today
more than 800 tree species are listed, of which around 650
are used for their timber. Historically, she said, states had
associated CITES with trade bans, and this had resulted infierce opposition to proposed inclusions of tree species in
CITES Appendices. But the ITTO–CITES Programme has
had a transformative effect.
“I have been glad to witness how these wrong beliefs have
evolved into positive support among CITES signatory
countries that are adopting all new listings of tree species,”
said Dr Sosa Schmidt. “This was one of the most remarkable
impacts of this work.” CITES is now regarded as an effective
tool for ensuring that international trade is done in acontrolled way so that it does not pose a threat to thesurvival of tree species in the wild.
“I believe that this programme has succeeded indemonstrating that range states can count on international
technical and financial support when their tree species areincluded in CITES,” said Dr Sosa Schmidt.
Other benefits of the ITTO–CITES Programme for member
states, she said, were improved forest management andthe regulation of trade in CITES-listed tree species inparticipating member states, and increased awareness andcooperation in research, silviculture and CITES compliance.
Moreover, the Programme has promoted the greater
integration of knowledge on sustainable forest management
and species conservation, management and international
trade to provide a coherent policy framework. There is also
increased awareness and capacity worldwide to manage andregulate international trade in CITES-listed tree species.

At the session, several Council members, including range
states of listed species as well as importing countries,
acknowledged the importance of the ITTO–CITES
Programme and a possible third phase. The Governmentof China, for example, stated its continued support, in
recognition of the Programme’s “high value” in fosteringcollaboration between the two organizations and its benefits
for the range states of tropical tree species and the ITTO
membership in general. The Government of the USA
announced a commitment of a further US$205 000 for
the Programme. The European Union indicated that it wasconsidering providing finance for a third phase, which would
be made through the CITES Secretariat, with ITTO continuing
as a partner. The Government of Germany announced that it
will organize, in 2017, an expert meeting on capacity building
for competent authorities to support the implementation of
CITES decisions on Dalbergia species.

ITTO–CBD partnership makes
important advances
The Council also heard a report on the partnership between
ITTO and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD), called the ITTO–CBD Collaborative
Initiative for Tropical Forest Biodiversity, which has involveda total investment of more than US$15 million in elevenfield projects.
Speaking at the Council session on behalf of the CBD
Executive Secretary, Catalina Santamaria of the CBD
Secretariat briefly described three “flagship” projectsof the Initiative. One of these is addressing the integrated
management of natural resources and biodiversity in the
Tacaná Volcano and its range of influence in Mexico andGuatemala, and a second is focused on institutional
strengthening among member countries of the Amazon
Cooperation Treaty Organization in the sustainable
management of forests in the Amazon.
A third project is addressing the management of the Emerald
Triangle Protected Forests Complex shared by Thailand,
Cambodia and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
“The importance of this transboundary project cannot be
overstated in a region where few intact forests remain toenable large endangered mammals to exist,” according to
the CBD Secretariat’s statement.

The International Tropical Timber Council meets at least oncea year to discuss a wide-ranging agenda aimed at promoting
sustainable tropical forest management and the trade ofsustainably produced tropical timber.
More information on the 52nd Session of the International Tropical
Timber Council is available at www.itto.int/ittc-52. Coverageby the Earth Negotiations Bulletin is available at www.iisd.ca/
forestry/itto/ittc52.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 23

Fellowship report
A recent impact
assessment
indicates that the
ITTO Fellowship
Programme is having
a strong positive
influence on careers
while strengthening
capacity in theforest sectors ofdeveloping countries
by Kumiko Tanaka
ITTO Secretariat(tanaka@itto.int)

Fellow in the field: ITTO Fellow Ankush Teshwar interviews a local shopkeeper in Yamunanagar district, Haryana State, India, as part of his researchon industrial development and livelihood improvement through agroforestry. Photo: A. Teshwar

The aim of the ITTO Fellowship Programme is to develop
human resources and enhance professional expertise inmember countries in tropical forestry, tropical timberindustries and related disciplines with a view to promoting
the sustainable management of tropical forests, the efficient
use and processing of tropical timber, and better economic
information on the international trade in tropical timber.
The Programme supports young and middle-level professionals
to develop their careers in a wide range of ways, from thepursuit of short-term training and post-graduate degrees
to the production of technical documents.
The ITTO Fellowship Programme, which began in 1989,
is highly regarded for its role in building human resources
worldwide in disciplines related to tropical forests and thetropical timber industry and economy; it is perhaps the onlyinternational scholarship programme specialized in suchdisciplines. One of the great attributes of the Programme isits cost-effectiveness. Awarded funds go directly to young
and middle-level professionals working in ITTO’s priority
areas, without the involvement of intermediate executing
agencies or institutions. The Programme has funded 1342
Fellows from 49 mostly developing countries since inception,
at a total cost of about US$10 million. The philosophy behind
the Programme is that investment in the development of
human resources is a key accelerator for improving themanagement of tropical forests and creating sustainable
forest-based industries and trade.

Impact assessment
The ITTO Secretariat recently conducted a survey to assess
the impact of the ITTO Fellowship Programme on its Fellows
at the personal, organizational, national and international
levels. The questionnaire used in the impact assessment was
similar to that used in a previous survey conducted in 201024 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

(a summary of the results of that survey is available in TFU
21/1, published in 2011). It contained eleven personalquestions and 34 questions related to professional
achievements and impacts.

Responses
Questionnaires were sent by email in June–August 2016 to
220 Fellows who were awarded Fellowships between 2010
and 2014. The overall response rate was 70%, up from 55% in
2010. Of the 155 Fellows from 28 countries who responded,
98% were from producer countries (33% from Africa, 35%
from Latin America and 32% from Asia) and 2% were fromdeveloped consumer countries (consistent with the ratio ofawards made to these groups); 42% of respondents were
women. Eleven percent of Fellows were aged 20–29 years,
52% were aged 30–39 years, 25% were aged 40–49 years,
11% were aged 50–59 years, and one Fellow was aged 70 years.
Figure 1 shows that about three-quarters of respondents
are working in universities, the public service or research
institutes; 10% work for non-governmental organizations;and about 7% work in the private sector. In their Fellowships,
36% of respondents participated in short training courses
or internship programmes, 21% undertook post-graduate
degree programmes, 21% published technical documents,
16% attended international conferences, and 6% undertook
study or demonstration tours.

Findings
The vast majority of respondents gave positive feedback about
the benefits of the ITTO Fellowship Programme. Figure 2
shows that the Programme has caused a shift towards higher
qualifications among respondents; for example, 77 of 155
respondents now have Masters degrees, compared with 57
before the awarding of Fellowships. Eighty-five percent ofrespondents now hold either PhD (42%) or Masters (58%)

degrees in forestry and related disciplines, and more than one-third received
those degrees through activities supported by the ITTO Fellowship
Programme. Sixty-five percent of respondents have published scientific papers,
books, field manuals or national-language reports based on the results of their
Fellowship activities, and 88% said they had been able to pass on to others theknowledge and experiences obtained from their Fellowships
to a significant or very significant extent.

Figure 1: Current employment of 2010–2014 ITTO Fellowshipawardees, by sector
1%
1%

1%
7%

4%

39%

10%

ITTO Fellowships have clearly benefited the professional development ofrecipients and improved their career prospects. For example, 73% of respondents
answered “totally related” or “strongly related” to the question of whether any
job promotion or new job position they had obtained was due to the skill or
knowledge they gained from the Fellowship; 61% responded that they had
obtained a relevant job position or job promotion immediately after
completing their Fellowship activities.

17%

20%

Most respondents (94%) returned home immediately on completion of their
Fellowship activities, and only 6% continued their degrees or found jobs incountries other than their own. Home countries, therefore, are mostly retaining
the human capacity developed under the ITTO Fellowship Programme.

Note: n = 155

University
Public service
Research instituteConsulting company
Non-governmental organization
International organization
Industry
Trade
Other

Figure 2: Highest qualification before and after ITTO Fellowships
90
80

No. of respondents

70
60
50
40
30

Conclusion

20
10
0

Eighty-two percent of respondents indicated that they were making a large or verylarge contribution to reforestation/forest conservation in their home countries,
and about 88% indicated that, on returning home from their Fellowships, they
had been able to improve the productivity and performance of their homeinstitutions by developing new programmes or innovative ways of working.
Forty-two percent of respondents indicated that the knowledge and skills theyacquired through the ITTO Fellowship Programme had helped them influencenational forestry and environmental policies in their home countries. Sixty-one
percent of respondents indicated that they were now working on international
forestry issues, such as climate change.

Other

Engineer

Bachelor

Masters

PhD

Highest qualification before ITTO Fellowship
Highest current qualification

The impact assessment provides convincing evidence that the ITTO Fellowship
Programme is having a beneficial effect on award recipients and their countries.
Especially in terms of knowledge sharing, the impact goes well beyond theindividual achievements of Fellows, contributing to human resource development
in institutions and strengthening professional expertise in member countries
in diverse but relevant disciplines.

Figure 3: Impact of ITTO Fellowships
Returned home immediately
Host institution provided relevant expertiseWorking on international forestry issues, including REDD
Impact on national forest/environmental policy
Contribution to reforestation/forest conservation
Contributed to sustainable forest management
Strengthened professional networks
Holding PhD or Masters degree
Published papers/books/manuals
Passed on knowledge and experience to others
Development new programmes/innovation
Improved institutional productivity and performance
Aquired relevant job position or job promotion
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% of respondents (n = 155) agreeing with statement

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 25

… Fellowship report

The voices of ITTO Fellows
Ms Rita Ebune, environmental scientist
at the Environmental Governance Institute,
Cameroon“There is a huge need for capacity building, and I
strongly believe this is an international issue. Many
problems still reside not only in the research itself but
in how to carry out the research and how to communicate
the findings to policymakers. Many institutional facilities
do not really train students to specialize in specificaspects. If experts could really specialize in specificthemes, the impact could be greater. The ITTO Fellowship
Programme can help in reshaping the scope of experts.
The training programme I undertook at Wageningen
University in the Netherlands is a response to failingconventional natural resource management approaches
that are unable to deal with conflicting interests inresource use; different perceptions of stakeholders onconservation vis-à-vis development; power imbalancesacross and between multiple scales in the natural
resource management sectors; and the implicationsof rapidly changing global–local interrelations inenvironmental governance and markets. My view onnatural resource management and conflicts is now
wider after my Fellowship, and this is helping me in
my current profession, now that I have been able toidentify my niche and area of interest.”
Dr Modhumita Dasgupta, scientist, India“At a personal level, the training through the ITTO
Fellowship has provided me with confidence to apply
technology to tropical tree species to understand theuncharacterized genomes in terms of chromosome
number, structure and evolution. I am presently working
on developing molecular markers for wood property
traits, and this will help in improving the productivity ofplantations, thus reducing pressure on natural forests.
The long-term conservation of forest genetic resources
will remain a cornerstone target for the sustainableutilization of tropical forests. Infusion of thesetechnological advances in conventional conservation
and breeding programmes can provide needed support
and accelerate the process of trait-based breedingin tropical trees. We are still in the early stages of

26 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

biotechnological research in forest tree species.
The subject is gaining importance and laboratories
are being upgraded to handle big data, but not manylaboratories are working in this area specifically in tree
biotechnology/genomics. One of the major impediments
is the lack of trained human resources to initiate highend research in perennial species.”
Dr Rashmi Shanbhag, post-doctoral researcher
specialized in ecosystem services, India“In my case, the research institute was not well equipped,
lacking all the instruments needed for my research. WhenI attended a conference through the ITTO Fellowship I
came to know about an Indian scientist whose laboratory
had all the facilities related to my core working area.
He invited me to work there, and I was able not only towork with needed new equipment but also to drastically
improve my capacity thanks to this new network, which
also guided me in many other academic opportunities.
The ITTO Fellowship is one of the best things to have
happened in my life. Academically, it took me to heights
I never dreamt of reaching in this short period. The
conference I attended opened up a new dimension andnew challenge in my current work. After my Fellowship,
two of my juniors also obtained ITTO Fellowships
for training in developed countries, and they haveincorporated the findings in their PhD studies, which
otherwise was not possible in India.”
Mr James Oppong Amponsah, principal
technical officer at a research institute, Ghana“The knowledge acquired from my ITTO Fellowshiphas proven to be very useful in my work schedule—monitoring the phenology of forest trees for effective
seed collection and conservation in the Bobiri Forest
Reserve in Ghana. A phenochart of the species I worked
on during my Fellowship has now been adopted by the
National Tree Seed Centre for the effective seed collectionof the species within the study area. Also, after thecompletion of my Fellowship I obtained a job promotion
from senior technical officer to principal technical officer.
The Fellowship has greatly contributed to my careerdevelopment in a way I could not have imagined.”

Market trends
The 2016 Annual
Market Discussion
looked at the pros
and cons of freetrade agreements
for tropical timberby Mike Adams1 andFrances Maplesden2
1 Coordinator, Tropical Timber

Market Information Service(mjadams_itto@hotmail.com)
2 Consultant, New ZealandFree-trade talk: From left to right: André de Boer, European Timber Trade Federation; Jorge Malleux, Peru; and Barney Chan, Trade Advisory Group.
Photo: Francis Dejon/IISD (www.iisd.ca/forestry/itto/ittc52/9nov.html).

ITTO Annual Market Discussions are arranged andpresented by the Trade Advisory Group during sessions of
the International Tropical Timber Council. The 2016 edition,
which was held in Yokohama, Japan, in November andwas co-chaired by Jorge Malleux (Peru) and Barney Chan
(Malaysia), featured speakers from Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand,
Peru, the European Union (EU) and the United States ofAmerica (US). Their presentations are summarized below.1

ETTF to capture benefits of open tradeby promoting tropical timber
Referring to free-trade agreements (FTAs) negotiatedby the EU, André de Boer, the Secretary General of theEuropean Timber Trade Federation (ETTF), said “themore the better” (for importers). He noted, however, that
European manufacturers—especially those relying ofdomestic markets—might have different points of view.
The European Commission has clear aims for its FTAs,
which it negotiates to strengthen the EU economy andcreate jobs by enabling European businesses to compete more
effectively and export more. FTAs also increase access to raw
materials and vital components from around the world.
Mr de Boer outlined how the ETTF is capturing the benefitsof open trade in tropical timber products through active
promotion. Its efforts have been boosted by the EU Sustainable
Tropical Timber Coalition (an alliance of industry, businesses,
governments and non-governmental organizations createdin 2013), which has the ambition and resources to stimulate
an increase in EU imports of tropical timber products.

1

Presentations are available at: www.itto.int/ittc-52/presentations.html.

What is TAG?
The Trade Advisory Group (TAG) was established toprovide inputs to ITTO’s policy and project work.
Membership is open to anyone with an interest in
the tropical timber trade, including representativesof tropical forest industries, timber exporters andimporters, timber trade and industry consultants,
and trade and industry associations.
Please contact TAG chair, Barney Chan, for more
information (barney.chan@gmail.com).

Peru must re-examine root causes of forestsector problems
Trade agreements can be powerful tools for boosting Peru’stimber exports, according to Erik Fisher Llanos, the Presidentof the Forestry Committee of the Peruvian Associationof Exporters. But, he said, this goal is not being achieved
because the development of the timber sector in Peru ishampered by a misdiagnosis of the problems in Peru’s tropicalforest sector. This, in turn, has resulted in an emphasis on
fighting illegal logging and its associated trade at the expenseof the fundamental cause of the problem—poverty. The
present approach “is not enough to guarantee thesustainability of tropical forests”, said Mr Fisher.
To address the challenges facing Peru, Mr Fisher
recommended:• boosting forest governance and strengthening themanagement capacity of regional administrations,because these are the ones closest to the forest;

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 27

… Market trends• improving the business climate to release domestic and international
investment;• tackling the overregulation of the sector; and• improving communication to send signals to international markets, especiallyin those countries with which Peru has FTAs.

US–Peru FTA boosts trade
The US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement was signed in December 2007.
By 2013, Peru’s exports to the US had increased by 38%, to US$8.1 billion,
while American businesses exported US$10.1 billion in merchandise to
Peru in the same year.
Source: ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/peru-tpa

The North American Free Trade Agreement
Data from the US government show that US exports to Mexico haveincreased by almost 450% since NAFTA came into force in January 1994
and that US imports (all products) from Mexico have increased by morethan 600%. NAFTA is a three-country accord negotiated by the governmentsof Canada, Mexico and the US.
Source: www.cfr.org/trade/naftas-economic-impact/p15790

Increase in competitiveness of small enterprises
needed in Mexico
Enrique Tellez Pacheco, President of the Mexican National Chamber of Wood
Industry (CANAINMA), said he recognized the benefits to Mexico of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other FTAs. But although suchagreements might provide new export and import opportunities for tropicaltimber, much work is required to deliver such opportunities to the domestic
tropical timber sector in Mexico, which is dominated by small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs).
The challenge, said Mr Tellez, is to increase the competitiveness of Mexican
companies so they can take advantage of the FTAs. Achieving this will require thegovernment and organizations such as CANAINMA to address the fragmentationof tropical timber production in the Mexican southeast, where only low-valueadded products are manufactured. Efforts are needed, he said, to open up
financing for replacing obsolete equipment, boosting skill levels, and increasingtransparency in the sector as a way of tackling illegal logging.

Nigerian consumers stranded by lack of purchasing power
FTAs had many pros and cons for the timber trade, according to Dr Labode Popoola,
Professor of Forest Economics/Sustainable Development at the University of
Ibadan, Nigeria (he is also President of Nigeria’s Forestry Association). AlthoughWest African wood-product exports are significant, the production and trade ofwood products is poorly integrated, reducing the economic benefits and thecapacity of the sector to meet the needs of domestic and regional markets.
An imbalance in purchasing power between international and domestic markets,and the resulting over-concentration of effort on the export trade, has left
legitimate domestic wood demand—which is growing quickly—unaddressed.
A common strategic framework is needed to generate meaningful data on local,
national and transboundary trade and its impact in the subregion.

28 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

Professor Popoola recommended more effective enforcement,
negotiation and knowledge generation in the sector, and agreater sharing of knowledge and expertise among forest
agencies in the subregion. He said the value chain for forest
products in the subregion is still inefficient because of thecontinued use of obsolete technologies compounded byweak governance in the sector, and these issues need to beaddressed. There is also an urgent need for comprehensive
resource assessment; greater private-sector and community
involvement in forest development; greater access totechnologies and market information; a review of forestry
and environmental laws; and more education and research.

Change of government in US will affecttrading environment
The outcome of the presidential election in the US had justbecome known when Joe O’Donnell, Senior Manager for
Government and Public Affairs at the US-based International
Wood Products Association (IWPA), made his presentation.
The outcome meant that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)would now not go ahead in the US, at least in the near term,
he said. He indicated that the election result would likely
have other impacts on the trade environment in the US,
too, but that the IWPA is committed to working to keep
trade flows open.
The US has FTAs in effect encompassing 20 countries,
reported Mr O’Donnell, and these have proven to be one of
the best ways to open up foreign markets to US exporters.
The reduction of trade barriers and the creation of a morestable and transparent trading and investment environment
make it easier and cheaper for US companies to export
their products and services to trading partner markets.
The US is negotiating the TPP with Australia, Brunei
Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Viet Nam. The US and the EUlaunched negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade andInvestment Partnership in June 2013.

Small enterprises in Thailand survive bycreating culture of design and craft
Jirawat Tangkijngamwong, Chair of the Thai Timber
Association and a director of Deesawat Industries andDeesawat Design, spoke about the way in which open trade
drives finished-product exports and design opportunities.
There are 1500 registered wood manufacturers in Thailand,of which only 52 would be considered large scale, a further
210 are medium-sized, and the balance—more than 1200—aresmall. A close look at the sector, said Mr Tangkijngamwong,
reveals that there are also 8000 unregistered “micro industries”.
SMEs in Thailand are slow and unproductive, and theycannot compete with larger domestic companies andcertainly not with foreign rivals. To help them survive in
the increasingly harsh competitive environment, said Mr
Tangkijngamwong, the Thai industry is, unaided, using its
entrepreneurial skills to adapt traditional crafts and designs
to create products to attract international buyers.

A delegate of the US outlined the many benefits she considered that the US–
Peru Trade Promotion Agreement is providing and the positive changes thatare occurring in the forest sector in Peru as a result. In the long term, she said,
these changes should benefit the timber industry in Peru.
A delegate of PNG noted the importance of clarity on what constitutes illegal
logging, and countries need to define it to suit their own contexts. Mr de Boer
responded that the EU Timber Regulation’s definition of legality is clear: EU
importers must ensure that imports are in compliance with national laws in
producing countries, and they are obliged to undertake due diligence to ensurethat shipments are legal. Mr de Boer also noted that the conclusion of voluntary
partnership agreements and the issuing of Forest Law Enforcement, Governanceand Trade licences will ensure access to EU markets.

Up for discussion: Participants view a graphic during a presentation
at the 2016 Annual Market Discussion. Photo: K. Sato/ITTO

Interventions and discussion
The presentations were followed by a lively discussion,moderated by Jorge Malleux, from Peru.
A delegate from the EU noted that tropical producer
countries face many challenges in the tropical timber trade,and he asked for comment on how best to develop advanced
technologies and attract investment in wood processing andtrade. Mr Pacheco responded by saying the problem iscomplex; in Mexico, the underlying issue is that many
forest owners are indigenous communities, who manage
forests according to customary procedures, and production
is inefficient and small-scale. Achieving improvements in
productivity requires engagement with these communities
to design programmes and promote technologies appropriate
to their needs and capabilities.
Mr Pacheco said that building trust with forest communities
is essential for any development programme in Mexico
because forest communities have had bad experiences in thepast. To attract investment in wood-processing industries,
legal security is another fundamental requirement, he said.
When investments involve communities living in or close
to the forest it is necessary to ensure that benefits are fairand evenly distributed. Mr Pacheco noted that, in Mexico,
despite the many challenges, forest communities welcome
investment in forestry and wood processing.
A delegate of Thailand noted that market transparency is key
to sustainable forest management (SFM) and a legal trade,and that many speakers had noted the extent of illegal
logging and trade in their respective countries. Against thisbackground, he asked whether FTAs do indeed enhancetransparency and help eliminate illegal trade. Professor
Popoola responded that trade is motivated by profit andthat investments flow to where profits can be made. He said
government involvement is required to ensure equity in trade.

A delegate of Guatemala acknowledged the role played by ITTO in enabling his
country to invest in technologies to improve online timber market data and todevelop an electronic verification system (known as SEINEF), which now provides
a strong chain of custody. He said that, since its development in 2014, SEINEF
has increased the availability of forest products and improved information
on local markets.
A delegate of Mexico commented that his government is introducing a strategy
to promote SFM, with five goals: 1) social inclusiveness; 2) forest management
for biodiversity conservation; 3) economic development; 4) monitoring; and5) poverty reduction. The strategy is expected to support the expansion oflegal trade in wood products.
An observer asked whether FTAs are benefiting communities that depend on
forests for their livelihoods. Is it possible, he asked, to improve FTAs so they are
better able to reduce poverty and thereby to bring the informal and often illegal
trade conducted by local people into the mainstream sector? None of the panelists
responded directly to this question.
A delegate of Germany commented that the movement of wood products acrossborders requires the verification of origin and species. Germany, he said, supports
the Global Timber Tracking Network, which is facilitating and promoting the useof DNA and stable isotope markers and timber-tracking technologies as a tool
to ensure legal timber trade. He suggested that the success in eliminating illegal
timber trade achieved through the application of these technologies warrants
wider replication.

The takeaway from the discussion
Of the six speakers at the 2016 Annual Market Discussion, two were fromconsumer countries and four were from producers. The two consumers heapedpraise on the FTAs negotiated by their governments, but the speakers fromproducer countries voiced reservations. If the discussion were a football match,
the score would be 2:4 against!
Bilateral and regional FTAs have proliferated in recent years as efforts to secure
a global deal on trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization havestalled. But are exporters using them? If not, why not? What benefits do they
provide? And what is the downside? The Annual Market Discussion heard frommanufacturers, trade associations and academics, and the takeaway message wasthat FTAs, though well-intentioned, are not delivering equally for every partner.
A recent analysis by HSBC Global Connections looked closely at the use of FTAs
in Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, where exporters
have no lack of options in their approach to FTAs because their governments haveprovided them with many choices. According to the HSBC analysis, however,“the choices may be rich, but utilization is surprisingly low, with each FTA
signed in ASEAN used, on average, by only one in four exporters”.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 29

Recent editions
Compiled by
Ken Sato

ITTO 2016. Criteria andindicators for the sustainable
management of tropicalforests. ITTO Policy
Development SeriesNo. 21. International
Tropical Timber Organization,
Yokohama, Japan.
ISBN: 978-4-86507-028-6
Available at: www.itto.int/
policypapers_guidelines
ITTO pioneered the developmentof criteria and indicators (C&I)
for sustainable forest management(SFM) in the early 1990s to assist in monitoring and assessing the conditionof natural tropical forests in the Organization’s producer member countries
and in identifying improvements needed in forest practices. ITTO published
Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Managementin 1992 and revised versions in 1998 and 2005.
In 2014, ITTO’s governing body, the International Tropical Timber Council,
decided another comprehensive review was needed to ensure that ITTO’s
C&I continue to meet the evolving needs of forest stakeholders and to
fully inform the development of forest policies and management practices.
This revised edition of the ITTO C&I is the outcome of that process.
It is timely in light of recent global developments in forest policy, such as
those related to climate-change mitigation and adaptation, the Convention
on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and the Sustainable
Development Goals, as well as in view of recent work among C&I processes
and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to streamline
and rationalize national reporting on forests.
See also the article on page 3 of this edition.
Salbitano, F., Borelli,S., Conigliaro, M. & Chen,
Y. 2016. Guidelines on
urban and peri-urban
forestry. FAO Forestry
Paper No. 178. Food andAgriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO),
Rome.
ISBN: 978-92-5-109442-6
Available at: www.fao.
org/3/a-i6210e.pdf
Although cities occupy only
2% of the planet’s surface, their
inhabitants use 75% of its natural
resources; by 2050, 70% of the global population will live in cities andtowns. Sustainable urban development is crucial, therefore, for ensuring thequality of life of the world’s people. Forests and trees in cities, if properly
managed, can make important contributions to the planning, design andmanagement of sustainable, resilient urban landscapes. They can help
make cities more pleasant, attractive and healthy places in which to live,
as well as safer, wealthier and more diverse.
FAO initiated and supported a collaborative process to develop voluntary
guidelines aimed at optimizing the contributions of forests and trees
to sustainable urban development. Scientists, practitioners and public
administrators from cities worldwide were brought together to discuss theelements and key challenges of urban forestry, and a smaller team of experts
was assembled to distil this vast knowledge. This document is the ultimate
result of that process. Intended for a global audience comprising urban
decision-makers, civil servants, policy advisors and other stakeholders,
it will assist in the development of urban and peri-urban forests that help
meet the present and future needs of cities for forest products and ecosystemservices. These guidelines will also help increase community awareness ofthe contributions that forests and trees can make to improving quality of life,
and of their essential role in global sustainability.

30 ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4

Forestry Administration of
Cambodia 2016. Technicalreport on strengthening
the capacity in forest law
enforcement and governanceof the permanent forest
estates in Kratie andMondulkiri Provinces of
Cambodia. Phnom Penh.
Available at: https://goo.gl/
Wd1XFg and by using ITTO’s
project search function (insert
the project ID) at www.itto.int/
project_search.
This publication summarizes
the outcomes of ITTO project PD 673/12 Rev.1 (F), which was implemented
by Cambodia’s Forestry Administration with a focus on training andawareness-raising among stakeholders on forest law enforcement andgovernance (FLEG) and the development of a strategic FLEG plan. The
publication was compiled and published by the Forestry Administration
with the financial support of ITTO. The project has substantially enhanced
the capacity of the Forestry Administration in forest law enforcement andtherefore in achieving the objectives of forest reform.
Forestry Department
Peninsular Malaysia 2016.
Report on the workshop on
capacity building of forestry
department Peninsular
Malaysia’s staff inidentification of Aquilaria
to species level and in thegrading of agarwood.
Kuala Lumpur.
Available at: https://goo.gl/
XLGGoP
This publication contains
information gathered fromstakeholders in Malaysia to facilitate the identification and grading of
agarwood for the better enforcement of regulations under the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES). The report was produced under the ITTO–CITES Programme.
ITTO 2016.
ITTO annual report 2015.
International Tropical
Timber Organization,
Yokohama, Japan.
ISBN: 978-4-86507-029-3
Available at: www.itto.int/
annual_report
ITTO made significant progressin 2015 in fulfilling its mandateof promoting the conservationand sustainable management,
use and trade of tropical forest
resources, implementing awide range of targeted projects and activities and contributing strongly to
productive partnerships with diverse organizations and stakeholders. The
2015 annual report provides insights into ITTO’s work through fieldprojects, the thematic programmes and other activities, which aimed atsustaining tropical forests.

Moreno-Casasola, P. &Infante Mata, D.M. 2016.
Conociendo los manglares,
las selvas inundables ylos humedales herbáceos
(“Knowing mangroves,
flooded forests andherbaceous wetlands”).
Instituto de Ecología, A.C.
(INECOL), Veracruz, Mexico.

Moreno-Casasola,P., ed. 2016. Servicios
ecosistémicos de lasselvas y bosques costerosde Veracruz (“Ecosystemservices of tropicaland coastal forests
of Veracruz”). INECOL,
ITTO, CONAFOR & INECC,
Comisión Nacional
Forestal, Veracruz,
Mexico.

ISBN: 978-607-7579-56-4
This publication compiles species
information on mangrove,
wetland and flooded forest
ecosystems, their structure,
distribution, population dynamics, state of conservation, and the laws that
regulate their conservation and use in Mexico. It is written in a simple stylesuitable for all kinds of audience, and it contains a comprehensive collectionof photographs to illustrate mangroves, wetlands and flooded forest
ecosystems. It was produced as part of ITTO project RED-PD 045/11
Rev.2 (M).
Ramírez-Pinero, M. &Guevara Sada, S. 2015.
Técnicas, mañas y prácticas
para recuperar y cuidar
los árboles y el monte enlos médanos de Veracruz(“Techniques, tricks andpractices to restore andmaintain trees andwoodland in the dunesof Veracruz”). Instituto de
Ecología, A.C. (INECOL),
Veracruz, Mexico.

ISBN: 978-607-7579-57-1
This publication presents
the results of an economic
valuation of flooded forests and wetlands (mangroves, swamps and marshes)
conducted by ITTO project RED-PD 045/11 Rev.2 (M) in the state of
Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Among other things, these forests provide
crucial protection against storms and floods, help regulate the watersupply, underpin a lucrative fishing industry, host important biodiversity,
provide a food supply, and store large quantities of carbon. The valuation
concluded that the economic value of these services is much greater thanthe value generated by cattle-raising. The challenge is to ensure that
landowners can capture more of that value as an incentive to conserve
the few remaining forests in the region.
The aim of the publication is to provide scientific evidence of the value of
ecosystem services and to raise awareness among farmers and policymakersof the importance of balancing development with the essential benefits
provided by nature. The report summarizes the results of the project in
16 chapters containing photographs, maps, charts, figures and graphics
to illustrate the ecosystem services and their value.
These three books can be downloaded free of charge. To obtain the links,
please insert the project identification number (RED-PD 045/11 Rev.2(M)) into the ITTO search function at www.itto.int/project_search.

ISBN: 978-607-7579-47-2
This publication, produced aspart of ITTO project RED-PD 045/11 Rev.2 (M), describes techniques for
attracting birds, bats, insects and other wildlife that carry the seeds oftrees and other plants to cleared dunes, thereby helping in the naturalregeneration of those areas, providing connectivity between habitats, andrestoring environmental functions. Techniques include providing perches
for birds and bats; the use of nets for collecting wind-borne seeds; andmethods for attracting native mammals to restored areas.

Alcalde Méndez, M.A.,
Gómez Guerrero, A. &Valdez Hernández, J.I.
2016. Foresta Mexicana.
Comisión Nacional
Forestal & Colegio dePostgraduados, Mexico.
ISBN: 978-60-7-715223-1
Available at: conafor@conafor.
gob.mx

Fellowship awardees
Eleven Fellowships were awarded at the 52nd Session of
the International Tropical Timber Council, encompassing
nine producer member countries and including five female
Fellows. The total value of the fellowships is US$58 725.
Details of the awardees are available at www.itto.int/
fellowship_detail/id=4966.

Mexico is one of 17 megadiverse
countries worldwide, and forests cover 70% of its national territory and arehome to 11 million inhabitants. These forests include temperate forests,
temperate rain forests (home of the Monarch butterflies during their wintermigration), warm temperate moist forests, tropical rain forests, subtropicalforests, tropical dry broadleaf forests, mangrove forests and gallery forests.
The aim of this publication is serve as a bridge between the forests and
Mexican society by presenting a collection of images that capture the value,richness and beauty of all types of forests in the country, across the seasons.

ITTO Tropical Forest Update 25/4 31

Meetings
1–2 February 2017
Lignofuels 2017
Helsinki, Finland
Contact: www.wplgroup.com/aci/
event/lignocellulosic-fuelconference-europe
2 February 2017
International Seminar for
Incentivizing REDD+ Actions:
Bridging Public-Private
Investment
Tokyo, Japan
Contact: redd-plus@jifpro.or.jp
7–9 February 2017
International Workshop on
Tree Species in CITESLa Antigua, Guatemala
Contact: ishii@itto.int
7–10 February 2017
UNFF Expert Consultation on
Reporting Format and Cycle
Brasilia, Brazil
Contact: sen@un.org
13–14 February 2017
IV Bonn Challenge
Griya Agung, Palembang,Indonesia
Contact: www.cifor.org/event/iv-bonn-challenge
13–14 February 2017
2nd Biomass Trade& Power Europe
Copenhagen, Denmark
Contact: www.cmtevents.com/
aboutevent.aspx?ev=170202&
13–15 February 2017
International Woodfiber
Resource and Trade
Conference
Furama Resort, Da Nang, Viet Nam
Contact: http://events.risiinfo.
com/wood-fiber
22–23 February 2017
8th Carbon Dioxide
Utilization Summit
San Antonio, TX, USA
Contact: www.wplgroup.com/aci/
event/co2-us
27 February–1 March 2017
3rd Biomass & BioEnergy Asia
Jakarta, Indonesia
Contact: www.cmtevents.com/
register.aspx?ev=170303a&
1–3 March 20172017 Timberland
Investment Conference
Amelia Island, FL, USA
Contact: www.ugacfb.com/
timberlandasset

1–4 March 2017
DelhiWood
Greater Noida, India
Contact: www.delhi-wood.com
4–6 March 2017
Forum ATIBT
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Contact: info@atibt.org
7–9 March 2017
Dubai Wood Show
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Contact: www.dubaiwoodshow.com
20–24 March 2017Land and Poverty Conference
2017: Responsible Land
Governance—Towards an
Evidence-based Approach
Washington DC, USA
Contact: www.worldbank.org/en/
events/2016/08/22/land-andpoverty-conference-2017responsible-land-governancetowards-an-evidence-basedapproach
29–31 March 2017
39th Session Joint ECE/FAO
Working Party on Forest
Statistics, Economics
and Management
Geneva, Switzerland
Contact: www.unece.org/forests/
wpfsem2017#
3–7 April 201719th Commonwealth
Forestry Conference
Dehradun, India
Contact: www.cfc2017.in
18–21 April 2017
International Conferenceon Sustainable Mangrove
Ecosystems: Managing a
Vital Resource forAchieving the SDGs
Bali, Indonesia
Contact: www.itto.int/
mangrove2017; ma@itto.int

1–5 May 201712th Session of the UN
Forum on Forests (UNFF12)
New York City, USA
Contact: www.un.org/esa/forests/
events/unff-12/index.html
4–5 May 2017
RISI’s Forest Investment
Conference
London, UK
Contact: http://events.risiinfo.
com/investment-conference
15–18 May 2017
8th Biomass Pellets
Trade & PowerTokyo, Japan
Contact: www.cmtevents.com/
aboutevent.aspx?ev=170501&
22–24 May 20172017 Conference to Explore
Latest Industry Trends in
Asia and Beyond
Shenzhen, China
Contact: http://events.risiinfo.
com/asian-conference/en
22–26 May 2017
Innovate4Climate:
Finance and Markets Week
Barcelona, Spain
Contact: www.worldbank.org/en/
events/2016/11/16/
innovate4climate-finance-andmarkets-week
29 May–2 June 2017
XVI World Water Congress
Cancun, Mexico
Contact:
www.worldwatercongress.com
12–15 June 2017
European Biomass
Conference & Exhibition
Stockholm, Sweden
Contact: www.eubce.com/home.html
12–16 June 2017
Expert Consultation on
Global Forest Resources
Assessments: Towards
FRA 2020
Joensuu, Finland
Contact: www.fao.org/forestry/
events/en

14–16 June 20172017 IUFRO Division 5(Forest Products) Conference
Vancouver, Canada
Contact: www.iufro2017.ca
17–19 July 2017
High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development 2017
New York City, USA
Contact: sustainabledevelopment.
un.org/hlpf
24–27 July 2017
23rd meeting of the
CITES Plants Committee
Geneva, Switzerland
Contact: www.cites.org/eng/news/
calendar.php
24–27 July 2017
IUFRO/INAFOR Promoting
Sustainable Resources fromPlantations for Economic
Growth and Community Benefits
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Contact: www.iufroinafor2017.com
4–15 September 201713th Conference of theParties of the United Nations
Convention to Combat
Desertification
Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Contact: www2.unccd.int/cop13
6–8 September
2nd Asia-Pacific Urban
Forestry Meeting
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Contact: www.fao.org/forestry/
events/en
11–13 September 20172017 International
Renewable Energy
Conference
Mexico City, Mexico
Contact: www.ren21.net/irecs
19–22 September 2017
IUFRO 125th Anniversary
Congress
Freiburg, Germany
Contact: http://iufro2017.com

ITTO’s 2017 project cycle deadline
The deadline for submitting project proposals—through the relevant
ITTO country focal point—is 6 February 2017. For more information go
to www.itto.int/calls_proposals/id=4994. The ITTO manual for project
formulation is available at www.itto.int/projectformulation/manuals.

2–6 October 2017
3rd International Conference
on Scaling-up Global Efforts
to Secure Community Landand Resource Rights
Stockholm, Sweden
Contact: rightsandresources.org/
en/event/commitmentsimplementation-strategiesaccelerate-recognition-rightsground/#sthash.wNwS0jX6.dpbs
8–13 October 2017
Forest Stewardship Council
General Assembly
Vancouver, Canada
Contact: https://ic.fsc.org/en
9–13 October 2017
Lasy2017: Joint Session of
the ECE Committee on Forests
and the Forest Industry andthe FAO European Forestry
Commission
Warsaw, Poland
Contact: www.unece.org/forests/
lasy2017#
6–17 November 2017
23rd Session of theConference of the Parties
to the UN Convention on
Climate ChangeBonn, Germany
Contact: secretariat@unfccc.int
27 November–
2 December 2017
53rd Session of theInternational Tropical Timber
Council and Sessions of
the Associated Committees
Lima, Peru
Contact: www.itto.int/
workshop_detail/id=4991;
itto@itto.int
4–6 December 2017
3rd Meeting of the UN
Environment Assembly
Nairobi, Kenya
Contact: www.unep.org/about/sgb
5–7 December 2017
53rd Global Environment
Facility Council Meeting
Washington DC, USA
Contact: www.thegef.org/
events/53rd-gef-council-metting