XI World Forestry Congress related activities
The 11th World Forestry Congress will be held in Antalya, Turkey, from 13 to 22 October 1997. Following is a partial list of related events that are to take place.
Informal ministerial meeting
Ministers of Forestry and those responsible for sectors related to forestry are being invited by the Minister of Forestry of Turkey to an informal meeting on 13 October 1997.
Satellite meetings
· Expert Consultation on the Role of Forestry in Combating Desertification: 11 to 13 October 1997. Contact: Muzafer Topak, Directorate of Afforestation and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Forestry, Ankara.· Meeting on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) in Forestry. Contact: Erkan Ispirli, Chief, Foreign Relations Department, Ministry of Forestry, Ankara.
· Silva Mediterranea (17th Session): 10 to 13 October 1997. Contact: Michel Malagnoux, FAO Forest Resources Division, Rome.
· Meeting on Conflict Management in the Use of Natural Resource through Community Forestry: 9 to 12 October 1997. Contact: Katherine Warner, Chief, Community Forestry Group, FAO Forestry Department, Rome.
Parallel meetings
Many parallel meetings will be held during the lunch period and in the evenings at the 11th World Forestry Congress. The following is a list of those booked to date:
· Informal meeting of the Commonwealth Forestry Association.· Information meeting of the World Commission of Forests for Sustainable Development.
· Presentation by ITTO commemorating the first decade of the organization's work in tropical forestry. Meeting of the IUFRO Working Group 6.12.03, Integrated Land Use and Forest Policies, on The role of Forests and Forestry in the Process of Rapid Land Use Changes: Impacts on Sustainable Development. Joint meeting of the FAO/EFC Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds and the IUFRO Working Group 8.04.00 on Natural Disasters.
· Meeting of IUFRO Working Group 5.06.00 soliciting the cooperation of countries to form an International Teak Wood Task Force to cater for the wood research needs of producer countries.
· An information meeting hosted by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
Other events
· Special session on Women in Forestry, with a keynote speaker and presentation of ten selected success stories.· Special session on Youth in Forestry, where awards will be presented to students for the ten best essays on the general theme of the Congress, as well as awards to young people for three additional contests: photography, graphic art and posters.
· Tree planting ceremony to establish the World Forestry Congress memorial arboretum.
The new International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA-94) enters into force
The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) enters a new stage with the new International Tropical Timber Agreement-1994.
The new agreement incorporates the Year 2000 Objective, according to which tropical timber in international trade must come from "well-managed forests" by 2000. The concept of "well-managed forests" refers to forests managed according to ITTO's Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests as well as its Guidelines for the Establishment and Sustainable Management of Planted Tropical Forests. National standards are expected to be developed in compliance with these generic guidelines.
The original ITTA was signed in 1983, with a life span of ten years and the specific mandate to foster the expansion and diversification of the international trade of tropical timber, based on sustainably managed forest resources. The achievement of such a mandate would take into account the projected increase in demand, the need for continuity of supplies, fair and remunerative prices, further processing in producing countries and improvements in access to international markets.
Resources required to achieve the Year 2000 Objective
ITTO has made several attempts at estimating the resources needed by tropical countries to achieve the Year 2000 Objective. In September 1995 an expert panel convened for this purpose arrived at an estimate of about US$ 2000 million per year. It seems evident that cooperation must be significantly strengthened between producing and consuming countries, industry, trade and NGOs if such a target is to be achieved.
Ratifications
The original ITTA was renegotiated between 1992 and 1994, the outcome being the new ITTA-1994. However, as of mid-September 1996, only 22 of the 53 ITTO members had ratified the agreement. They were:
Industrialized countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
Developing countries: Asia - Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Republic of Korea and Thailand; Africa - Ghana, Liberia and Togo; Latin America - Bolivia,
Ecuador, Panama and Peru.
