12 December 2011: The International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), 2006 entered into force on 12 December 2011 with the ratification of the agreement by the Government of Benin. ITTA, 2006 takes the place of its predecessor agreement, ITTA, 1994.

ITTA, 2006 has as its two key objectives to: promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests; and promote the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests. The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) helps countries to achieve these objectives by helping to improve the competitiveness of wood products, boosting the marketing of sustainable and legal tropical timber, and sharing information on, inter alia, certification. ITTO also helps countries to improve forest law enforcement and governance, address illegal logging and related trade in tropical timber, and undertake sustainable forest management and forest restoration.

ITTA, 2006 has created thematic programmes on forest law enforcement, governance and trade, reducing deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing environmental services, community forest management and enterprises, trade and market transparency, and industry development and efficiency, which have been running on a pilot basis for the past three years. With the entry into force of the new Agreement, it is expected that funding to these programmes will increase.

ITTA, 2006 will be in force for a period of 10 years, with the possibility of extensions of up to eight years. [ITTO Press Release]