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An uncertain future faces the International Tropical Timber Organ isation.
Last week the organisation, which polices the trade in wood from tropical
forests, failed to convince even its own members that it could do the job.

Conservationists have always challenged the role of the ITTO as protector
of the world’s shrinking rainforests. The organisation represents 47 countries
which either produce or consume tropical timber.

The only firm proposal to emerge from the ITTO’s meeting in Yokohama
was a commitment by the Malaysian state of Sarawak to reduce the amount
of timber it cuts by 1.5 million cubic metres a year over the next two years.

Sarawak’s move is a response to a recommendation made in 1989 by an
ITTO mission led by the Earl of Cranbrook. Among other things, Cranbrook
said that Sarawak could sustain a harvest of 9.2 million cubic metres of
timber a year if it also adopted other conservation measures. Without them,
the maximum sustainable yield is only 5.7 million cubic metres. Sarawak’s
proposal did not address the other aspects of conservation, such as preventing
soil erosion.

‘The ITTO is not yet dead, but it’s certainly in trouble,’ said Christopher
Elliot, of the World Wide Fund for Nature. ‘With the exception of Sarawak,
the ITTO guidelines for forest management are not leading to any real action
in terms of countries changing their policies or setting lower targets for
harvesting.’ Francis Sullivan, a conservation adviser with the British
delegation, said: ‘The gulf between action and commitment is wider than
ever. Things are moving forward at a snail’s pace – if they are moving at
²¹±ô±ô.’

Some delegates saw little point in trying to breathe new life into the
ITTO by extending the current International Tropical Timber Agreement, which
expires in 1994. The failure of 40 of the 47 nations to present a report
for the ITTO’s Target 2000 project was not encouraging. Each member was
supposed to outline its plans for achieving sustainability in forestry by
the year 2000.

Japan, the largest importer of tropical timber, was one of the handful
of countries that filed a report, but it fell short of offering specific
measures to guarantee sustainable forestry. Instead, it talked of ‘promoting
dialogue’ and ‘cooperation’. ‘The Japanese report is basically waffle,’
said Sullivan.

However, as the world’s largest consumer of tropical timber, Japan still
argues that the ITTO has an important role in safeguarding the rainforests.
‘Whatever you may think of the ITTO, we have been much better off with it
than without it,’ said one of the Japanese delegates.