56th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees (ITTC-56)
9-13 November 2020 | Online
Highlights for Monday, 9 November 2020
The Fifty-sixth Session of International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC-56) and the Associated Sessions of its four Committees opened Monday in a virtual session due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his opening remarks, ITTC-56 Chair Björn Merkell (Sweden) noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected forestry, with the preliminary findings of an International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) report suggesting that the tropical timber sector is likely to recover to pre-crisis volumes only by 2026, with Latin America most affected, followed by Southeast Asia.
ITTO Executive Director Gerhard Dieterle suggested the organization has huge potential to provide solutions to the challenges posed by COVID-19 to the tropical timber sector, and that the pilot programmatic approach to fundraising offers the right mix of thematic priorities and organizational orientation to address those challenges. He briefed the Council on efforts to become accredited with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Green Climate Fund (GCF), as well as cooperation with other organizations. He cautioned against changing leadership during the ITTO’s rebuilding process. He reiterated his proposal to ITTC-55 to extend his term as Executive Director for two more years, but said he was ready to step aside and let an Officer-in-Charge take over until a new Executive Director can be elected.
The focus on the first day was a briefing on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on ITTO operations, and a preliminary review of the six draft decisions recommended by the Council’s Informal Advisory Group (IAG) on selection of the next Executive Director, the extension of the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 2006, the implementation of Phase II of the New Financing Architecture, the extension of the Strategic Action Plan through 2021, and the adoption of the ITTO Biennial Work Programme 2021-2022. Since the requirements for a quorum were not met on the opening day, no formal decisions were taken.
To deal with the challenge of a virtual meeting involving Member States across many different time zones, the agenda was streamlined, the daily sessions are limited to two hours, the four committees will not meet in parallel sessions, and the thematic market discussion normally featured at each Council session was cancelled.
Images from the Meeting
ITTO/ITTC-56 Resources
- ITTC-56 Website
- ITTC-56 Documents
- ITTC-56 Agenda
- International Tropical Timber Agreement, 2006 (ITTA, 2006)
- ITTO Annual Report 2019
- ITTO Members Under ITTA, 2006
- Decisions of the ITTC
- ITTO-CITES Program for Implementing CITES Listings of Tropical Timber Species
- ITTO/CBD Collaborative Initiative for Tropical Forest Biodiversity
- ITTO Project Search
Additional Forestry Resources
- The Collaborative Partnership on Forests
- The Convention on Biological Diversity: Programme on Forest Biodiversity
- UNFCCC REDD+ Platform
- FAO Forestry
- UN Forum on Forests
- 25th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO), 5-9 October 2020, Rome, Italy
IISD/ENB Meeting Coverage
- 15th Session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF15), June 2020, Virtual
- UNFF14, 6-10 May 2019, UN Headquarters, New York
- ITTC-54, 5-8 November 2018, Yokohama, Japan
- Global Bamboo and Rattan Congress 2018 (BARC 2018), 25-27 June 2018, Beijing, China
- UNFF13, 7-11 May 2018, UN Headquarters, New York
- ENB Coverage of Forests Meetings
IISD Resources
- Subscription Page for ENB Update, SDG Update, and Peer-to-Peer Community Mailing Lists (including Forests News, SDG News, Biodiversity News, Ocean News, Climate News, Ocean News, Trade and Sustainable Development News, and Regional Updates)
- SDG Update Newsletter - A compilation of news, commentary and upcoming events published on the SDG Knowledge Hub
- SDG Knowledge Hub - An Online Resource Center for News and Commentary Regarding the Implementation of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)