The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) is an intergovernmental organization promoting the sustainable management and conservation of tropical forests and the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests.

ITTO:

-Develops internationally agreed policy guidelines and norms to encourage sustainable forest management (SFM) and sustainable tropical timber industries and trade.

-Assists tropical member countries to adapt such guidelines and norms to local circumstances and to implement them in the field through projects and other activities.

-Collects, analyzes and disseminates data on the production and trade of tropical timber.

-Promotes sustainable tropical timber supply chains.

-Helps develop capacity in tropical forestry.

ITTO is an action and field-oriented organization with more than 30 years of experience. It has funded and assisted in the implementation of more than 1200 projects and other activities addressing the many aspects of SFM, such as forest restoration; wood-use efficiency; the competitiveness of wood products; market intelligence and transparency in the tropical timber trade and tropical timber supply chains; forest law enforcement and governance; illegal logging; biodiversity conservation; climate-change mitigation and adaptation; the contributions of non-timber forest products and environmental services; and the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

ITTO’s membership represents about 90% of the global tropical timber trade and more than 80% of the world’s tropical forests.