The chairman of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC), Dr Jürgen Blaser, has called on the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) to develop partnerships between forest concessionaires and NGOs to work towards sustainable forest management.
He said support for such partnerships would send a very clear message to the international market place that tropical timber producers and civil society organisations can co-operate to bring forests under sustainable forest management.
Dr Blaser was speaking at the ITTC’s 33rd session in Yokohama where certification featured prominently on the agenda and several speakers supported ITTO’s work on forest law enforcement.