February 22, 2024
(press release)
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Tokyo, Japan, 20 February 2024: ITTO and the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) have committed to another four years of joint work on the sustainable management of tropical forest landscapes under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed today by ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru and UNCCD Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. The MOU extends cooperation between the two secretariats to the end of 2028. It is the second such agreement, with the first signed in 2011. The overall objective of the new MOU is to support ITTO member countries and Country Parties to the UNCCD in restoring and maintaining tropical forest landscapes while promoting the sustainable production of timber and other products and ecosystem services. Ms Satkuru said the MOU is an important means for strengthening cooperation and enhancing synergies between the two secretariats, both of which are members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. “There is strong complementarity in the work of ITTO and the UNCCD Secretariat,” she said. “We both have missions to enable economic progress while maintaining and strengthening environmental values, and our members and UNCCD Parties stand to benefit when we combine our expertise and resources to achieve synergies and improve outcomes.” “The collaboration with ITTO to improve the resilience of the vulnerable populations and ecosystems will be important to support UNCCD Parties in addressing desertification, land degradation and drought,” said Mr Thiaw. “These issues will be front and centre at the next UNCCD Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2–13 December 2024. We look forward to working together on the road to Riyadh and beyond.” Under the MOU, ITTO and the UNCCD Secretariat will work together to: Potential areas of cooperation include: For more information on ITTO, visit www.itto.int.
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