51st Session of the International Tropical Timber Council
and Associated Sessions of the Committees (ITTC-51)

On Tuesday, the fifty-first session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) entered its second day of discussions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In the morning, the Committee on Reforestation and Forest Management (CRF) and the Committee on Finance and Administration (CFA) met in parallel, followed by the Committee on Economics, Statistics and Markets and the Committee on Forest Industry (CEM-CFI). The CRF discussed, inter alia: policy work and the Biennial Work Programme, new projects and pre-projects, and the use of ITTO Guidelines on the Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests. The CFA discussed the loss of ITTO funds to failed overseas investments. An open-ended working group was formed to discuss this matter further and draft a decision on a course of action, for consideration by the Council. The CEM-CFI discussed new projects, projects that are currently in progress, and completed projects.

Later in the afternoon, the Council met to discuss the admission of observers, and after some discussion it was decided that Bruno Manser Fund would not be admitted. Delegates proceeded to discuss progress on implementing the Biennial Work Programme for 2015-2016, including strategic priorities on promoting good governance, and building human capacity to implement sustainable forest management.

In the evening, a Joint Committee Session was held to discuss ex-post evaluations of projects, including on participatory management of non-timber forest products in Indonesia, and community-based forest fire management in Ghana.