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OPENING SESSION:
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During
the morning Council session, delegates heard opening remarks
from: ITTC Chair Alhassan Attah of Ghana; Hiroshi
Nakada, Mayor of Yokohama, Japan; Peter Chin Fah Kui,
Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities of Malaysia;
Carolyn Rodrigues, Minister of Amerindian Affairs of
Guyana; Naoto Maeda, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries of Japan; Don Koo Lee, President of the
International Union of Forest Research Organizations; and ITTO
Executive Director Manoel Sobral Filho. Many statements
stressed the need to, inter alia: conclude ITTA, 1994
renegotiations as soon as possible in 2006; utilize the
strategic position of ITTO for sustainable forest management (SFM); and curb alarming rate of
deforestation in the tropics.
Left photo L-R: ITTO
Executive Director Manoel Sobral Filho; ITTC
Chair Alhassan Attah of Ghana; Peter
Chin Fah Kui, Minister of Plantation Industries and
Commodities of Malaysia; Carolyn
Rodrigues, Minister of Amerindian Affairs of Guyana; Naoto
Maeda, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of
Japan. |
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ITTC Chair Alhassan
Attah (Ghana
) opened the session, announced that Mexico
will host the 40th session of ITTC in 2006, and
stressed the need to reach agreement on a Successor Agreement
to ITTA, 1994. |
Mayor
Hiroshi Nakada of
Yokohama
noted that ITTO has made major contributions on the difficult
mission of reconciling development of tropical countries with
improving the global environment, and that
Yokohama
lauds and supports this effort.
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Peter
Chin Fah Kui, Minister of Plantation Industries and
Commodities of Malaysia, explained
Malaysia’s application of the Malaysian Timber Certification
Council’s timber certification scheme, which is gaining
recognition and acceptance in European countries. |
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Carolyn
Rodrigues, Minister Amerindian Affairs, Guyana, stressed the interconnectivity of political and environmental affairs, as well as the
impact of commodity and fuel prices on forest-dependent peoples. She highlighted recent successes achieved by the Iwakrama Project, and urged demonstration of commitment through increased funding. |
Naoto
Maeda,
Director-General, Forestry Agency of Japan, said that
recognition of SFM is a major challenge of the forest industry
in addressing international environment issues, including
global warming. Japan
has used its initiatives on climate change to address illegal
logging. |
Don
Koo Lee (Republic of Korea), President of IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research
Organizations), described cooperation between ITTO and IUFRO,
particularly in the interface between science and policy.
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Manoel Sobral
Filho, Executive Director, ITTO, emphasized the importance of the renegotiation of the ITTA 1994 agreement and increasing funding levels in light of continued high levels of tropical deforestation. He highlighted the potential for civil society and the private sector to play a key role in implementation. |
Delegates
also adopted the ITTC agenda, and were updated on the
admission of observers and membership of the Council. Carlos
Antonio da Rocha Paranhos (Brazil) explained contentious issues
related to the ITTA, 1994 renegotiations, noting that finance
remains the major area of divergence.
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Luis Ernesto Barrera Garavito (Guatemala),
stressed
the importance of completing the renegotiations the ITTA, 1994
agreement.
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Aulikki Kauppila (Finland), commended
the secretariat’s work on the report of the Informal
Advisory Group, and stressed the
importance of informal negotiations.
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Miguel Ruiz-Cabañas (Mexico), supported Papua
New Guinea's offer to host ITTC-42, and thanked them for accepting this compromise. |
Dike Kari (Papua New Guinea), expressed support for Mexico’s proposal to host
ITTC-40 in the Yucatan. |
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Committees on Economic Information
and Market Intelligence and the Committee on Forest
Industry (CEM/CFI):
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Above photos L-R: CFI Chair Celestine
Ntsame-Okwo (Gabon)
and CEM Chair James Gasana (Switzerland) introduced a number of
projects and pre-projects for discussion and review; view of the joint
session of CEM and CFI.
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photos L-R: Representatives of member countries presented a
brief summary of work completed and in progress on various
project and pre-projects under CFI and CEM. Presentations were
made by Mohammed Basri Hamzah (Malaysia), Zhang
Zhongtian (China), Florentino Tesoro (The Philippines) and Kojo
Wireko-Brobby (Ghana) |
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Committee
on Reforestation and Forest Management (CRF):
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Above photos L-R: Steve Johnson
(ITTO) introduced
a series of projects under Strategic Policy Activities; CRF
Chair Jennifer Conje (US) and CRF Vice-chair Petrus Gunarso
(Indonesia)
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Switzerland
recalled that Decision 9/XXX already deals with the issue of
regional workshops on criteria and indicators C&I for SFM.
Above photo: Jürgen Blaser (Switzerland) |
With
regards to monitoring progress in applying
C&I
for SFM, Brazil
stressed the importance of regional workshops to facilitate
cooperation at this level.
Above photo: Rócia Silva Oliveira (Brazil)
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The
Philippines
stressed the importance of including information related to
certification auditing in C&I workshops.
Above photo: Ricardo Umali (The Philippines) |
The
Congo called for the training of auditors capable of certifying
African forest concessions.
Above photo: Gregoire Nkéoua (Congo) |
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